Weird Stuff in the Bible

Jesus, the Book of Enoch, and the Fate of the Watchers

Luke Taylor — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 05:00:00 -0500

One of the most famous parables Jesus shared was the one about the sheep and the goats. This refers to a future time, judgment day, the second coming of Christ, when Jesus will separate the righteous from the unrighteous. Those who had served Christ will receive salvation, the rest will have a dark fate.

And you’ll probably recognize this quote that Jesus says to that second group

In Matthew 25:41:

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’

Sounds simple enough, right? Hell was created for the devil and his angels- meaning the bad angels, the fallen angels- and those people who choose the devil’s team will end up in the same place that they are.

Except wait a minute- this is actually new information. There hasn’t been anywhere in Scripture where we were told that hell was first created for the devil and his angels. You can read from Genisys to Malachi and you won’t find this idea anywhere.

Like 12 tons of European KitKats. Just totally missing. Gone.

You will, however, find that doctrine in the Book of Enoch.

Did Jesus read the book of Enoch? And more importantly- did He believe it?

We’ll answer that today because I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why Jesus seemed to quote an idea from the Book of Enoch.

Turn to Matthew 25, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Enoch 10, Imprisoning the Watchers

10:45 - Matthew 25, the Sheep and the Goats

15:35 - Jesus and the Book of Enoch

23:10 - The Fate of the Watchers

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Hosted by Luke Taylor

If you’re intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. I’m so glad you’re here- don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!

A Goat for Azazel

Luke Taylor — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Explore Enoch 10 and Leviticus 16 with me.

The internet was set on fire this week by the tragic passing of Chuck Norris. And it included a revival of Chuck Norris jokes. One said, “When Chuck Norris arrived in heaven, he was the one who had to tell the angels, ‘Fear not.’”

Another said, “Chuck Norris didn’t die. Death has had a near-Chuck experience.”

Another one: “When Chuck Norris goes into a room, he doesn’t turn the lights on. He turns the dark off.”

And I found this great one that said, “Chuck Norris once read Leviticus…and liked it.”

Now, that’s a good one because Leviticus is no one’s favorite book of the Bible. Leviticus is the book about clean and unclean foods, about what to do if you find mold in your house, about how to treat infections- oh yeah, and sacrifices sacrifices sacrifices. There’s a lot of blood in this book, and a lot of details about sabbaths, feast days, and the sacrifices that the Israelites were supposed to do at these appointed times.

And chapter 16 is perhaps the most peculiar. This describes the Day of Atonement. It involves a strange ritual where there were two goats presented before the people. The High Priest would pick one goat to be used as a sacrifice; the other would be sent off into the desert.

Kinda weird, huh? But it gets weirder. Listen to this:

Leviticus 16:8

And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel.

Wait a minute. Azazel may sound familiar, especially if you’ve been listening to the podcast this year. That’s because Azazel is one of the rebellious Watchers in the Book of Enoch, who came down to deceive humanity and teach them forbidden knowledge in the pre-flood world.

But what ever happened to Azazel? We’re going to explore Enoch’s 10th chapter to try and answer that question today as well, so that we can understand why Azazel gets a cameo here in the often-skipped book of Leviticus.

You know, maybe Chuck Norris died, maybe he didn’t. Personally, I’m not gonna believe it until we hear it from Chuck Norris himself.

But I do want to take a closer look at Leviticus 16 and see if I can enjoy it as much as Chuck Norris reportedly did.

Because I find this goat ritual to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Leviticus 16, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

2:30 - The Scapegoat

5:15 - Azazel in the Book of Enoch

12:35 - Two-Way Atonement

21:50 - Next Time

23:50 - The Son of the Father

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When Prophets (and even Angels) Question God | Enoch 9 and Habakkuk 1

Luke Taylor — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Do you ever get an answer that just leads to more questions?

I think a lot of us have had that experience. Sometimes we’re searching for the answer to some weird thing in the Bible, and when we finally find it, we find ourselves saying, “Well wait, what about this?” Or “this challenges the view I had of spiritual reality or what God is like.”

Honestly, our preconceptions of how God operates are probably our biggest hindrance to understanding some parts of the Bible. And if that’s you, don’t feel bad; it was Habakkuk’s problem as well.

Habakkuk, a prophet of God, one of the men selected to write a book of the Bible, certainly had his view of God challenged. Habakkuk had some issues with how God was running the world, he asked God about it, God actually answered Habakkuk, and Habakkuk wasn’t too satisfied with the answer.

Today, we’re going to read how that conversation between God and Habakkuk went down, and it’s going to help us understand how to process it when God’s actions don’t meet our expectations.

Then we’ll look at a similar conversation that was recorded amongst a group of angels in the Book of Enoch. And that discussion is going too help us understand what we should DO when God’s doesn’t do what we think He should.

Habakkuk argued with God. And when he didn’t like what God said, he argued some more.

I find that to be gutsy, and pretty weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Habakkuk 1, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - Habakkuk’s Complaint

10:10 - Enoch 9 and the Angels

16:00 - The Just Shall Live By Faith

22:10 - Closing Thoughts: The Labor Day Fire

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Bashan: The Place of the Serpent

Luke Taylor — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0500

One of the most head-scratching verses to me in the entire Bible is Ephesians 4:8.

In this verse, Paul quotes Psalm 68. And Paul is known to quote various passages from the Old Testament; that’s not weird.

What’s weird is that Paul quotes it wrong. As in, he quotes one line saying the exact opposite of what the David originally wrote in this Psalm.

Psalm 68 says

You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,

But in Ephesians 4:8 Paul applies this to Christ, saying

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”

One version says “receiving gifts.” The other says “he gave gifts.” Those are two opposite ideas.

And that might seem like a tiny mistake in the grand scheme of things, but it bothers me because I always say my bible ain’t got no mistakes. So I had to look more deeply into this one.

And as I did, I learned something that brought yet another dimension to these words: the quotation in Psalm 68 is in a context of addressing Bashan.

Bashan, as in, the spiritually dark region that was a stronghold of giants and demons in the Bible.

Bashan, a location whose name means “the place of the serpent.”

Bashan which contains Mount Hermon, the location where the Watchers touched down on planet earth in their great rebellion, as detailed in the Book of Enoch.

So in this episode, we’re going to investigate Bashan, what it means in the Bible, what Psalm 68 is saying, and hopefully we’ll understand why Paul quotes it backwards in Ephesians 4.

Because I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why a potential error like this is in the Bible.

Turn to Psalm 68, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

4:40 - Bashan, the Place of the Serpent

11:15 - Psalm 68 & Ephesians 4

23:45 - Next Time

25:30 - The Bulls of Bashan

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The Mystery of Mount Hermon

Luke Taylor — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0600

I’ve mentioned this a few times before: I’m a newspaper guy. Or, I was. I got degrees in journalism and in mass communication when I was in college. And I briefly worked for a few area papers around that time.

And then I got into radio so I haven’t really done the reporter thing much since then. But I have taken those newspaper guy skills and applied them to how I study the Bible. You see, when you need to break a story, you have to establish the who, the what, the when, the where, and the why.

And that’s what I’ve been doing with this story of the angelic Watchers who descended to the earth in the antediluvian era. All year long on this podcast, we’ve been breaking this story.

WHO were the Watchers? In Genesis 6, they’re called the Sons of God. They’re angelic or spiritual beings who had a job of watching over humanity.

WHAT did they do?

Genesis 6 says

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.

WHY did they do it? The Book of Enoch’s sixth chapter told us it was because they lusted after the women and wanted to create children with them. However, these children were the giants, or Nephilim, of the primordial world.

WHEN did they do this? Enoch shed some light on that as well: the days of Jared, Enoch’s father, approximately 1000-1200 years before the flood.

And that brings us now to one question about this transgression of the Watchers that we haven’t really answered yet: the WHERE.

The Book of Enoch tells us where this took place: a location known as Mount Hermon. And Hermon is part of the Bashan region of mountains in the northern part of Israel. A dark and demonic area called The Place of the Serpent. A place known to cause trouble for Israel throughout the rest of the Bible, right up to the time of Jesus.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore the significance of Mount Hermon in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 6, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

3:05 - The Backstory to the Bible

6:30 - Spiritual Geography

10:30 - How Hermon Got Its Name

12:30 - Hermon Throughout the Bible

21:40 - Next Time

22:45 - Hermon Today

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What it Means that there is ‘Life in the Blood’

Luke Taylor — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0600

When Noah stepped off the Ark, one of the first things God said…was weird. God told Noah things are gonna be different in this new world. First of all, you can eat animals now. However, you gotta do it right.

Genesis 9:4

But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

In other words, drain out all the blood before you consume the animal. And in the previous episode, we talked about why this command was probably given: because the giants of the pre-flood world were said to be cannibalistic and that they regularly consumed blood. By putting this command out there right as Noah got off the Ark, God was saying we don’t want to go back into the mindless violence and chaos of the pre-flood world. We’re not eating blood.

And this command is so important, it’s repeated in the Levitical law, and again later in the New Testament.

But what I find most fascinating is the Hebrew behind this command. When it said “life” is in the blood, it’s the Hebrew word “nephesh,” and the main way this word is usually translated in the Bible is “soul.” So another way you could say this is that the soul is in the blood.

Which I find to be weird. And I’d like to explore what this means throughout the Bible.

So if you’d like to hear what I found, turn to Genesis 9, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

4:30 - An Echo of the Soul

12:15 - The Two Problems with Animal Sacrifices

20:25 - A Better Way

23:30 - So Don’t Eat Blood

28:45 - Closing Thoughts

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The Disturbing Reason Behind Why the Bible Prohibits ‘the Eating of Blood’ | Enoch 7 & Genesis 9

Luke Taylor — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0600

You get to the Book of Acts, chapter 15, and the church is already having some major problems getting along.

You have the Jewish sect of the church; they think it would be appropriate to keep following the Law of Moses from the Old Testament, even though we are now officially in the New Testament era by this point.

Then you’ve got the Gentile portion of the church; they think that the Mosaic Law was obsolete by that point, that new believers- especially those from outside the Jewish traditions- were under no obligation to follow it.

And that leads to the Council of Jerusalem, where the bigwigs put their heads together and come up with this pronouncement:

Acts 15:19-20

19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.

So these are four things that, regardless of who you are, where you are, what culture you grew up in, that all believers should follow. Four things that are the starting place for sanctification.

#1 is not committing idolatry. Makes perfect sense. You’re a Christian now, so you shouldn’t be worshipping any false gods. Obviously.

#2 is about sexual immorality. Again, makes sense. If you don’t follow the Bible’s design for sexuality, you’ll get yourself into all kinds of trouble. This is a major emphasis of the Bible; it makes sense why this would be one of the four cardinal rules that the Council of Jerusalem laid down.

But then…it says new believers should abstain from things strangled…and from blood? Which basically means not to consume blood. What is that all about? Why not ban lying, or stealing, or cheating at your Wordle?

Well, as we investigate this, we’ll find that the prohibition on consuming blood goes beyond the Law of Moses; it’s actually one of the first rules that God placed on mankind right after Noah got off the Ark.

Now why is that? To figure out the answer to that question, we’ll be learning about what was going on in the pre-flood world according to the Book of Enoch.

Yes, consuming blood is gross…but that sounds like more of a sanitation or dietary issue, not a moral issue, right? Yet it seems to be one of the top 4 most important things believers should avoid in the Book of Acts.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Acts 15, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

2:30 - The Jerusalem Council’s Question

6:20 - After the Flood

9:35 - Enoch 7

15:40 - Somehow, the Nephilim Returned

18:30 - Next Time

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The Days of Jared: When the Watchers Came Down | Enoch 6 & Genesis 5

Luke Taylor — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0600

We’ve been studying Enoch, and a couple weeks ago we started into the juiciest chapter: Enoch 6.

This chapter is about when the Sons of God came down to earth, a story we’ve revisited countless times on the podcast.

And Enoch 6:6 contained this detail:

“And they were in all two hundred; who descended ⌈in the days⌉ of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon”

We actually read about this guy Jared in Genesis 5. He was actually Enoch’s daddy.

Genesis 5:18

When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch.

So Enoch’s book told us the Sons of God came down to earth in the days of Jared.

And what does the name Jared mean? “Shall Come Down.”

Wait a minute. Jared means “shall come down.” And the fallen Sons of God came down to earth in the days of Jared.

That’s…quite a coincidence. What is the connection between names and what was going on during the antediluvian period? And could understanding some of the other names of pre-flood people perhaps give us some clues about what was going on in the pre-flood world?

Because I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 5, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

3:55 - A Pointless Genealogy?

10:55 - Investigating the Pre-Flood Timeline

21:10 - Prophetic Names

24:55 - Next Time

26:00 - Why Man Lived 120 Years

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Forbidden Knowledge of the Watchers | Enoch 7-8

Luke Taylor — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0600

I watched a lot of School House Rock growing up, which means I learned that knowledge is power.

But that doesn’t mean that all knowledge is good. In fact, too much knowledge can be a very very bad thing. The Bible shows us that some knowledge is forbidden.

In Romans 16:19 (NKJV), Paul writes

For your obedience has become known to all. Therefore I am glad on your behalf; but I want you to be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil.

What does it mean to be simple? In one sense, to be simple means to be dumb. To not know anything. And why would God’s Word tell us to be dumb? Aren’t there entire books of the Bible written to make us wiser?

But there are some things you simply don’t have to know. It’s OK not to know what it’s like to be high on drugs. It’s OK not to know what it’s like to be blackout drunk. It’s OK not to know what the horoscope in the newspaper says about your day. It’s OK to be simple concerning evil.

In fact, there are some forms of knowledge that are actually forbidden for mankind. Things that God has said humans are better off not knowing.

Deuteronomy 29:29

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Right there, the Scripture draws an epistemological boundary. It says some types of information belong to God, and therefore some knowledge is not ours to pursue.

Now, why is all this relevant? Because the Book of Enoch shows how in the pre-flood world, the Watchers or Sons of God descended to the earth and not only created the giants, but also shared forbidden knowledge with the humans of that day.

Not false knowledge. Forbidden knowledge. Things humans were not meant to know. Things that have a domino effect all throughout the rest of the Biblical story, including all the way into future prophecy in the book of Revelation.

Which I find to be weird, and I’d like to explore what it shows us about our Bible.

Turn to Genesis 6, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

2:15 - Antediluvian Mysteries

5:25 - Botany Powers

14:00 - Sins Against the Animals

16:00 - Metallurgy and Astrology

24:40 - The Days of Noah Repeat

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The Days of Noah, According to Enoch

Luke Taylor — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:00:00 -0600

And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.

You’ve probably heard those words before and thought, “Oh yeah, Genesis 6, the story of the Watchers- AKA the Sons of God- who came down and created the giants with human women.” If you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, you’ve heard those verses from Genesis 6 quoted countless times.

Only I wasn’t reading from Genesis 6 just now. I was reading from Enoch 6. And that portion of Enoch is not only almost word-for-word similar to how Genesis 6 begins, but then it goes off in another direction that informs us some of the details of the pre-flood world. Insights that will help us understand what was so bad about the days of Noah that caused God to want to wipe out virtually all life on the planet.

I mean, eradicating 99.9% of humanity? God doesn’t overreact. What was so bad about the world that required that degree of wiping it all away?

And remember: Enoch was Jesus’ history book. So could what we learn in Enoch 6 give us an idea of what Jesus meant when He said the end times would be as it was in the days of Noah?

I find Enoch 6 to be weird, and I’d like to explore what it helps us understand about our Bible.

Turn to Genesis 6, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

1:35 - The Desire of the Watchers

9:45 - Were the Women Willing?

14:40 - Enter Semjaza

17:50 - The Plan of the Watchers

22:05 - Next Time

24:10 - A Repeat of the Days of Noah?

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Do You Get a New Name in Heaven?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0600

The Bible has a thing for name changes.

Abram gets an upgrade where he becomes Abraham. Simon gets a glow-up, too; Jesus changes his name to Peter, "the Rock." And Jacob goes medieval on an angel and he gets himself rebranded as Israel.

And they aren’t the only ones. You get into the book of Revelation and Jesus says this:

(Revelation 2:17)

To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

Wait, you get one of these new names, too! A super-secret name for forever and ever once you get to heaven.

Wait- what if you like your current name? Or what if you don’t like your new one? What’s with all these changing names in the Bible- and do you have to change your name once you get to heaven- and does the Book of Enoch perhaps shed some insight on this?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Revelation 2, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

1:35 - Enoch 5 & Cursed Names

6:40 - Changing Names

8:15 - A New Name Written Down in Glory

18:00 - Your Role in Heaven

22:25 - Next Time

23:20 - The Rest of the Story

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Does Hell Have to Last Forever? | Enoch 2-5

Luke Taylor — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0600

Forever is a long time.

It’s especially a long time if you’re in hell.

And so we need to make sure we’ve got this doctrine right.

Revelation 14:11 says of the people in hell

the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever

Jude 7 says Sodom and Gomorrah

serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire

One of the traditional Christian teachings is that hell is (1) eternal, (2) conscious, and (3) torment.

This is probably the mainline Christian teaching in most denominations, but yet, there are a number of Christians who don’t believe hell can last forever. Or if it does, that the people there couldn’t possibly be conscious. And if they are, then it must not be all torment.

And so they come up with alternative doctrines like annihilationism or purgatory- which may not be technically biblical, but they sound a whole lot more palatable to our modern 21st Century mindsets than the uncomfortable view of God sending people to an eternal wrath.

That sounds a bit over-the-top. Would God really do that? Why would a finite amount of sins deserve an infinite amount of punishment. We gotta figure this out.

Because eternity is way too long to get this hell thing wrong.

I find this doctrine of eternal conscious torment be weird, and I’d like to explore whether it’s in the Bible.

And also, whether the Book of Enoch might help us to shed a little more light on it.

Turn to Revelation 14, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Eternity is Too Long to be Wrong

6:15 - Objection 1, Annihilationism

10:40 - Objection 2, Hell isn’t Loving

14:10 - Enoch 2-5

19:05 - Objection 3, Infinite Punishment for Finite Sins

24:15 - Next Time

25:20 - Closing Thoughts

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The Book of Enoch is Legit (even if it’s not Scripture)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0600

Why should you study the book of Enoch? Does it hold any value to our faith walk? Is it ill-advised to read any collection of prophetic writings when it’s not part of the biblical canon?

Well, let’s answer that question with an observation: the book of Jude directly quotes from the book of Enoch.

Jude 14-15 say

14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

Perhaps you say, well, Enoch WAS in the Old Testament. And that’s correct. However, that quotation from him was not in the Old Testament. It’s only found in the ancient Book of Enoch.

So why is Jude quoting from prophetic writings that aren’t part of Scripture? And if the prophetic writings are true, then why not include them in Scripture?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why this prophecy of Enoch’s is in the Bible and why the rest of his book isn’t.

Turn to Jude, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Did Jude Actually Quote Enoch?

10:10 - Peter & Jesus’ history book

14:00 - Why isn’t Enoch part of the Canon?

21:30 - Things to Come

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If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Brian Godawa Brings the Pre-Flood World to Life

Luke Taylor — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0600

I have studied a fair amount of literature on the world before the flood, but none of it has made that world come alive to me like Brian Godawa’s theological works. He graciously joined me for an interview today to discuss some of his theological foundations; some of the topics discussed include:

- Did “gods” walk among men?

- The Sons of God and the Divine Council

- Michael Heiser’s influence on theology

- The Book of Enoch’s credibility

And a whole lot more! Welcome to a weird new year of the podcast!

Brian Godawa is the author of the Chronicles of the Nephilim series- including Noah Primeval- and a wide variety of other works. Learn about all that he does at Godawa.com

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If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Are there DINOSAURS in the Bible?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0600

Is it possible that dinosaurs are mentioned in the Bible itself?

Well that idea is a little too far out there for most people to even consider.

Even those who believe in a young earth tend to believe that the dinosaurs died out either before or during the worldwide flood in Genesis, and that’s why all we have left of them today are fossils buried under layers of earth.

And if you believe in an old earth then you definitely don’t believe Adam was riding a T-Rex around the Garden of Eden because those creatures were millions of years old, according to science.

And yet, the book of Job describes a creature called Behemoth, which sounds an awful lot like a dinosaur. I mean, it doesn’t sound like it could be anything other than a dinosaur. It says it has a tail like a cedar and limbs like bars of iron.

But wait a minute- Job takes place after the flood of Noah. Which makes a dinosaur-sighting seem more out of place than Candace Owens at a bar mitzvah.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Job 40, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

5:00 - Job’s Science Quiz

14:00 - Next Time

16:00 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Did Enoch Predict the Timing of Christmas?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0600

So I’ve been studying the book of Enoch for a series of episodes I’d like to begin next year, and I found something that just can’t wait until 2026. It’s too cool.

The Book of Enoch- which is a controversial book- which is not part of the biblical canon- which has a lot of legitimate questions about its authenticity- which was written before Jesus was born- predicts the timing of when the Messiah would come into this world.

I truly did not realize that a prophecy which was this specific was supposedly told to Enoch all the way back before the flood of Noah.

And we can confirm it by the Bible itself, because Luke 3- which you may have read this month if you’ve been looking at the Christmas story this time of year- Luke 3 gives us a genealogy of all the generations from Adam to Jesus.

Genealogies are not usually the most interesting thing to read, but the Bible has a lot of them. And I find that to be weird, and I’d like to explore whether what the Book of Enoch predicts about the future correlates with what’s in the Bible.

Turn to Luke 3, and let’s get weird.

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Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Visit the Weird Stuff store!

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0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - God’s Number

6:20 - Sixes and Sevens

14:20 - Preaching to the Spirits

18:05 - Next Time & Giveaway

20:20 - The 78th Generation

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Christmas Prophecy that's Missing from the Bible

Luke Taylor — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0600

What I like about Matthew’s Gospel is that he connects the Old Testament to the New. He’ll include a verse from the Old Testament and say something like, “As the prophet Jeremiah said…” or “As the prophet Isaiah said…” I appreciate that he cites his sources.

Except for that time that, well, he didn’t. And we have no idea where it came from.

It’s in the Christmas story, Matthew chapter 2, where it says in

Verse 23

And he [Jesus] went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

That all sounds fine, except: which prophet said that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene? And it wasn’t just one; Matthew said it was “spoken by the prophets” which means more than one. And yet you can scour your Old Testament and you will never find a single verse that the Christ would be called a Nazarene. In fact, you won’t find a single mention of Nazareth at all.

So what prophecy is Matthew talking about?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s NOT in the Bible.

Turn to Matthew 2, and let’s get weird.

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

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0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - The Context

5:10 - The Nazareth Prophecy

13:50 - Mailbag

18:00 - Next Time

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Can Christians be Possessed by Demons? Remnant Radio’s Michael Miller gives us the answer

Luke Taylor — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 05:00:00 -0600

Coming up on today’s edition of Weird Stuff in the Bible, we have an interview with Remnant Radio’s Michael Miller. He’s going to help us answer the question: Can Christians be Possessed by Demons?

Remnant Radio is a podcast with three pastors who teach on spiritual gifts and how to operate in them within the church.

What I like about Remnant Radio is that they (1) have first-hand experience in the things they talk about, and (2) they don’t get kooky about it. They keep things very grounded and biblical.

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

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Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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0:00 - Introduction

4:00 - Oppression vs Possession

9:00 - Can Christians have Demons?

17:00 - How common is demonic manifestation during deliverance?

18:00 - Can a demon speak through a Christian?

19:40 - How do you determine whether an issue has a spiritual cause?

22:00 - Do you need to learn a demon’s name to cast it out?

27:20 - Can small children have demons?

29:00 - Tell everyone about Remnant Radio

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Night My Friend was Possessed by a Demon: Why I Do This Podcast

Luke Taylor — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0600

Normally on these episodes I start by introducing a Bible passage that’s bizarre, perplexing, or just plain weird. But we are reaching a milestone of 100 episodes, and I thought I would just take a step back this time and tell you the story of why I’m such a weirdo.

Why I like digging into the weird stuff in the Bible.

Why I think the weird stuff in the Bible matters.

And it all starts with a crazy experience I had in college when my friend got possessed by a demon and it started speaking to me.

Because from then on, my life was never the same. My Christian walk was never the same. And I probably wouldn’t be doing this podcast right now if it wasn’t for the story that I’m going to share today.

And just a warning in case you’ve got any kids around, and also in case the episode title didn’t clue you in, the story is a little dark and scary. Like, it literally happens on Friday the 13th. But if you think you can handle it, grab some popcorn and let’s get weird.

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Visit the Weird Stuff store!

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0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - My Story

14:35 - Why I Share This Story

20:20 - Mailbag

26:10 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Jesus and the “Sky Monsters” of Luke 21

Luke Taylor — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0600

I had three listeners send me the same video in a 24-hour span. Which means you have my attention. And they all thought this would be right in line with the podcast here, which means it’s gonna get weird.

And what was the video? I’ll play it for you later, but this video claims that in the end times- as Jesus describes them in Luke 21- there will be great signs in the heavens. And that the Greek terms for these signs in the heavens can be translated as monsters coming out of the sky.

In fact, I’ll quote it for you from the New King James:

Luke 21:11

there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven

Is this true? Did Jesus prophesy that the end times will see sky monsters?

What are these signs in the heavens that will perplex and terrify the people?

Are they UFOs? The third kind? Did Jesus just spoil the next Avengers movie?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Luke 21, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

1:15 - Rick Renner’s Claim

4:50 - From Heaven

10:30 - Fearful Sights

15:10 - Help from the Septuagint

20:25 - So What’s Coming in the End Times?

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Fan-Favorite (Rebroadcast) The Naked Dude in the Garden when Jesus was Arrested

Luke Taylor — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0600

I was not able to put together a new episode for today, so I am re-sharing a popular episode from the past. Look for a new episode next week that dives into Luke 21 and Jesus' prophecy of the "sky monsters."

In today's episode: Something really strange happened when Jesus was being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.

This is the night that Jesus was put on trial, and the next day He was nailed to the cross. So there’s a lot going on. it’s a very heavy section of scripture. And there’s one detail that’s only recorded in one of the four Gospels.

Mark 14:51 and 52 say

51 And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, 52 but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.

Now if you’re a normal, well-adjusted person, you probably read a strange verse like that, you say: “well that’s weird”- and then you just move along with your Bible reading.

But the listeners of this podcast are not normal, well-adjusted people.

So let’s figure out today what’s up with the naked man who shows up in the garden when Jesus was arrested.

Because I find it to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Mark 14, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:00 - The Context

4:40 - Theory 1- Simply a Historical Detail

13:30 - Theory 2- Mark Himself

15:30 - Theory 3- A Miracle

22:45 - Theory 4- All of Them Together at Once I Suppose

23:35 - Mailbag

26:00 - The Naked Truth

Special thanks to the Two Witnesses Live podcast for inviting me on their show recently! Here is a link if you’d like to see/hear it: https://www.youtube.com/live/Mh0bTZhUKwk?si=vqVdx6KZx9tQIZSo

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Getting free of demonic torment- with Beatty Carmichael

Luke Taylor — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0600

I have a special episode for you all today, it’s a conversation with an experienced deliverance expert, Beatty Carmichael. He is a Bible teacher and has served as a deliverance minister, and he specializes in exposing the spiritual roots behind conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD, addiction and chronic pain.

He’s got a simple, step-by-step path to breakthrough from these things in his book, The Prayer of Freedom. Listen to our conversation today to find out how lasting healing comes when demonic oppression is cast out and God’s freedom is restored. Beatty Carmichael joins me today to share his process with us on the Weird Stuff in the Bible podcast.

Find his book right here: https://theprayeroffreedom.com

You can WATCH today's interview at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exT7QM-td8Y

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Was God OK with polygamy in the Old Testament?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0500

King Solomon had to be crazy. 300 wives. That’s 300 anniversaries to keep track of, 600 in-laws, and being told to pick your underwear up off the floor 900 times every day. I’ve never met anyone who thought that 300 wives sounded like a good idea. Doesn’t seem very wise. If any of us wanted advice for anything, we probably aren’t asking the guy who got married 300 times.

And yet, we do, because this is the guy who wrote the quintessential book of the bible on wisdom- Proverbs. And then he also wrote the sexual manual- Song of Solomon. That one isn’t so surprising. And then later he wrote the most depressing book of the Bible- Ecclesiastes. But that’s a lot more understandable when you remember- the guy had 300 wives.

If you go to the New Testament, one of the qualifications for a pastor is that he must be “the husband of but one wife.” Fair enough. Yet turn back to the Old Testament and it’s full of godly men who would have failed this test for spiritual leadership.

It wasn’t just Solomon. Abraham, Jacob, Esau, Gideon. Even David. David who wrote most of the psalms. David who was called “a man after God’s own heart.” David who was the king- not of Utah- but God’s nation of Israel.

Why did so many ancient figures- even what we would call biblical heroes- have multiple wives?

And more importantly to us- why does it seem like God was OK with it?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 2, and let’s get weird.

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

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0:00 - Introduction

2:30 - The Origin of Marriage

4:50 - How to Read the Bible

9:20 - God’s Institution of Marriage

14:40 - Forbidden for Kings and Pastors

18:55 - Forbidden for Everyone Else!

23:50 - God’s Silence

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Old Testament and Slavery

Luke Taylor — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0500

When you’re a Christian, you believe certain things about God. That the Bible reveals God to us. That God is morally perfect. That God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

But also, in the Old Testament, that God allowed slavery.

Wait wait wait. Wait a minute. We all know that slavery is wrong.

We had a Civil War about it, we had Martin Luther King Jr, we had like four Planet of the Apes movies to teach us why slavery is wrong.

And yet Old Testament Israel includes people who were slaves, Old Testament laws regulating the use of slaves, and even this shocking command from Moses in

Exodus 21:20-21

20 “When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. 21 But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged, for the slave is his money.

So wait- is Moses saying that it’s OK to beat your slave, as long as you don’t kill him?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Exodus 21 and Leviticus 25, and let’s get weird.

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

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0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - Slavery in the Old Testament

4:30 - Jubilee Years and the Mosaic Economy

10:50 - Differences from Chattel Slavery

14:25 - Laws Regulating the Treatment of Slaves

24:40 - Newsletter & Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Weird Old Testament Laws: Clean and Unclean Food

Luke Taylor — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0500

I hope you enjoy your bacon-wrapped water chestnuts, your gummy bears, your Hawaiian Pizza, your Shrimp Tacos, your Crab Rangoons, and your Sausage Egg McMuffins. Because all of these foods are forbidden under the Old Testament law.

Thankfully, we don’t live under the Old Testament law!

Although I do still think we should forbid ham and pineapple pizza. I probably would be willing to go back under the Old Testament law to stop pineapple on pizza. But it’s not up to me. It’s up to Jesus. And Jesus said in:

Acts 10:15

What God has made clean, do not call common.

Why did Jesus have to say this in the New Testament? Because back in the Old Testament, God had declared certain foods to be unclean- and therefore forbidden to eat.

But the list seems a little random. Scholars have puzzled and debated for centuries over why certain foods were acceptable and certain foods weren’t.

God gave the Israelites these rules as they set off on their journey through the desert after they left Egypt. And apparently, God didn’t want them stopping at a Red Lobster as they were wandering through the wilderness.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Leviticus 11, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Eat What You Want

4:45 - Leviticus 11’s Clean and Unclean Animals

8:45 - The Health and Sanitation Theory

9:50 - The Religious Theory

11:00 - The Mixture Theory

17:00 - The Ethics Theory

21:20 - Next Time and Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

What was the big deal about building a tower to heaven? A theory about Babel and Genesis 11.

Luke Taylor — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0500

OK so my brother Ben sent me this comment over the summer:

Why did God have a problem with the Tower of Babel but not us going to the moon?

That’s because we never went. That’s Biblical. Put that in your library and smoke it.

Now that’s actually a really smart question Ben. I don’t really know what the library part meant but you got my gears turning with the first part. A lot of us hear the story of the Tower of Babel as kids, the story about a group of people who tried to build a tower that reached heaven.

And God said He wasn’t going to allow mankind to do this. It’s a really fascinating comment God makes

In Genesis 11:6

…this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

God slapped this down pretty hard. He confused the speech of the peoples, which means He switched up all their languages, and therefore they couldn’t finish the project so they all went their separate ways, and now that’s why now we have to take 4 semesters of French class to get a Bachelor of Arts degree.

So why did God have such a strong reaction to this? Why did He literally say that if the Tower of Babel was constructed, mankind would truly become capable of anything? I mean, just because of a tall building?

If the problem with the Tower of Babel was just about altitude, then yes, space travel raises a lot of theological questions for us.

But what if the Tower of Babel is not what we thought? What if the problem with the Tower of Babel was not how high it reached, but what it was capable of doing?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 11, and let’s get weird.

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

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Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - The Full Story

10:15 - What Did Babel’s Tower Do?

14:45 - Ziggurats and Pyramids

21:30 - Gaps in My Pyramid

23:15 - Mailbag

26:00 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh: Does God Command Evil Spirits?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Paul’s thorn in the flesh. This is a mysterious phrase Paul uses that has stumped commentators for centuries.

In II Corinthians 12:7, Paul writes

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

Paul experienced some kind of hardship in his life- and what exactly it was, we don’t know. A sickness, a demonic attack, some kind of earthly trial or hardship, we aren’t entirely sure. That’s the part that commentators theorize about- and that’s NOT the part I want to focus on today.

I’m more interested in where it came from. Now you say: well Luke, it’s obvious where it came from- it came from the devil. Paul right there said it was a messenger of Satan.

Sure. But why was it given to Paul? He said it was to keep him from getting conceited, which means prideful or arrogant.

Now let me ask you a question: is Satan interested in keeping us from becoming too prideful or arrogant? No! Satan wants us more prideful, not less. Satan wants us full of ourselves. Satan wasn’t interested in helping Paul be more humble. God is the one who wants that.

Which means that this evil spirit was allowed into Paul’s life by God. The Lord allowed this evil spirit to go after Paul

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to II Corinthians 12, and let’s get weird.

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Visit the Weird Stuff store!

https://luketaylorpodcasts.creator-spring.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Breaking Down the Context

10:30 - God’s Sovereignty Over Evil Spirits

17:30 - Evil Spirits as a Tool

21:30 - Newsletter

23:00 - Sometimes It’s Not Our Own Sin

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Raptured to the… Third Heaven? (II Corinthians 12:2)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Paul uses a phrase that I don’t quite know how to interpret, because it’s the only place in the whole Bible that uses this phrase.

II Corinthians 12:2 reads

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven

Wait, who was this guy?

What is the third heaven?

And what happened to the first two?

I mean, some of us know about the Seventh Heaven, if we spent a little too much time watching cheesy Stephen Collins family dramas on the WB as kids. I’d kind of like to forget about that one.

But I DO want to know more about this third heaven, because I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to II Corinthians 12, and let’s get weird.

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Visit the Weird Stuff store!

https://luketaylorpodcasts.creator-spring.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

1:00 - Paul’s Humility in Boasting

10:30 - The Third Heaven

14:50 - Next Time & Mailbag

19:45 - The Rapture of Philip

22:50 - Chris M from Boston

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

NEW PODCAST: God and His Prophets

Luke Taylor — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 06:00:00 -0500

If you'd like to listen to "God and His Prophets: A verse-by-verse study through the Bible’s major and minor prophets," you can find it wherever you find this podcast.

You can also visit this link: https://godandhisprophets.transistor.fm/

God and His Prophets is a verse-by-verse Bible study podcast exploring the mysterious prophets and prophetic texts of the Bible.

Each episode unpacks Scripture, helping you understand the cultural context, spiritual meaning, and modern relevance of the prophetic books. Whether you’re a Bible nerd, a small group leader, or just trying to make sense of the books people usually skip- this podcast will guide your journey.

Hosted by Luke Taylor, this study began with the Book of Ezekiel and continues through the rest of the major and minor prophets, one verse at a time.

New episodes release Mondays. Subscribe today and join the exploration!

Popular subjects will include:
• Verse-by-verse study through the prophets
• Prophetic Profiles on Old Testament prophets
• Minor prophets teaching
• End times theology
• Connections to the book of Revelation explained

Host: Luke Taylor

Note: This podcast was formerly published as Cross References and The Book of Ezekiel: A Cross References Bible Study.

FREE MASTERCLASS: The Complete Guide to Spiritual Legal Rights in the Heavenly Realms

Luke Taylor — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0500

You can WATCH this week's loooooong episode right here: https://youtube.com/live/AFtXdS1qvlg?feature=share

If you’re a Christian who has been saved and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, why do you still struggle against the devil?
Why do we have destructive patterns, addictions and sins in our lives that we just can’t get free of?
What are some of the ways we give the devil legal access to our life without us even realizing it?
These are the questions we’re going to answer in this Masterclass on spiritual warfare where I’m going to break down everything we’ve been studying this summer about legal rights in the spirit realm. We’ll be looking at Genesis 1-3, Hebrews 2, Romans 6 and Ephesians in-depth tonight as we recap and review the past few months of our journey on the Weird Stuff in the Bible podcast.
One quick note: if you’re a faithful listener of the Weird Stuff in the Bible podcast and you feel like you’ve already got a good handle on what I’ve been covering, you probably don’t need this whole thing today because it’s mostly going to be recap and review.
And if that’s the case, you can peace out, no hard feelings. There’s a little new content, but mostly it’s review.
I am putting this episode together because some listeners reached out to me asking me if I could do one long uncut teaching on spiritual legal rights. (I had that same idea in my head- I thought it could be beneficial to you all, so when I kept hearing that idea suggested by listeners, I took it as confirmation that God wants this to happen tonight.)
So if it sounds like it would be beneficial to you as well, turn to Genesis 1, and let’s get weird.

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Visit the Weird Stuff store!
https://luketaylorpodcasts.creator-spring.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:
https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/
You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction
4:30 - Part 1, The Dominion Mandate
11:00 - Part 2, Why Angels Were Created
17:00 - Part 3, Satan’s Agenda
32:00 - Part 4, Jesus’ Agenda
43:30 - Part 5, The Heavenly Realms
58:40 - Part 6, Defining Our Spiritual Enemies
1:12:00 - Part 7, How Our Spiritual Enemies Gain Access
1:37:45, Part 8, How to Find Freedom for Yourself and Others

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com
Hosted by Luke Taylor

Mailbag: Inter-dimensional Aliens, Spiritual Portals, and New Christian Cuss Words

Luke Taylor — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Besides this podcast, where else could you go for talks of aliens, spiritual warfare, resurrection, raptures, portals into the spirit realm, and how to cook with poop?

I’ll tell you where else you could go: the Bible. Because the Bible has all those subjects in it. And we’re going to talk about all of them today.

To start: there is a dark and disturbing story in II Kings 3 where the Israelites are engaged in a battle against Mesha, the King of the Moabites. Mesha and Moab are way outnumbered. Not only that, the prophet Elisha in II Kings 3:18 had prophesied that Israel would easily win this conflict. And that’s how things look right up until the very last verse of the chapter.

Mesha is surrounded with no hope; the Israelites have all the momentum. In a moment of desperation, Mesha stands on the city wall and offers up a human sacrifice.

When he does this, the Israelites turn around in fear and run right back home. So the question that will start us off today is: why?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to II Kings 3, and let’s get weird.

Visit the Weird Stuff store!

https://luketaylorpodcasts.creator-spring.com

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Beau D

13:25 - Alana E

16:00 - Rick S

21:30 - Joe A

22:40 - Vicki V

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Do You Not Know that You will JUDGE ANGELS? (I Corinthians 6:3)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Back in the first episode of this show, I laid out several mysteries of the Bible that have always puzzled me. Things like talking donkeys, six-fingered giants, that time Michael got into a fistfight with the devil over the body of Moses… And I’ve done episodes on all these things.

But there’s one mysterious verse for which I never got around to finding an explanation, and that will finally change today.

In I Corinthians 6:3, Paul writes:

Do you not know that we are to judge angels?

Uh, no, I didn’t know that. I must have missed that day in Sunday School. Frankly, I don’t feel qualified to judge angels. I can’t even judge the difference in butter and Country Crock. And yet the Bible offhandedly says buckle up and get ready for some angel judging.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to I Corinthians 6, and let’s get weird.

Visit the Weird Stuff store!

https://luketaylorpodcasts.creator-spring.com

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:50 - The Context of I Corinthians 6

6:05 - Judging the World

13:50 - Judging Angels

17:45 - When Will We Judge Angels?

23:30 - Next Time & Mailbag

26:15 - Closing Thought

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Spiritual Legal Rights: Why do Evil Spirits Follow the Rules?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Is sin a verb or a noun?

Is it an act you choose, or a power that chooses you?

Is sin something you do, or does it do something to you?

And the answer to all of those questions…is yes.

Today I’m going to talk about what happens in the spiritual realm when we sin.

We often focus on sin in the physical realm as something we choose. What we don’t realize is our sins actually create legal rights in the spiritual realm for evil spirits to harass and try to dominate us.

So today’s episode will give you a greater context for the spiritual battles that we find ourselves in, especially in combatting the flesh or our own sinful desires. And it all begins where sin began, which is Genesis 3. Eve talked to the snake, she bit into the fruit, Adam had some, too, God comes up and asks what they’re doing, and here is what Eve said in

Genesis 3:13

“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Here’s something interesting about this word for “deceived me” in the Hebrew. It can also mean the serpent “put me in its debt.”

And that’s such a strange idea. We know who the serpent is- the devil. So how does sin put us in the devil’s debt?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 3, and let’s get weird.

Visit the Weird Stuff store!

https://luketaylorpodcasts.creator-spring.com

My columns in The Christian Post:

https://www.christianpost.com/by/luke-taylor

The Naked Man in the Garden when Jesus was Arrested (article on the site)

https://weirdstuffinthebible.com/2025/08/06/the-naked-man-with-the-linen-cloth/

Check out the website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:15 - Recap of the Dominion Mandate

4:05 - Nasha in Genesis 3

8:45 - Masal in Genesis 4

11:55 - How We Find Freedom in Romans 6

20:45 - Why would evil spirits follow spiritual laws?

26:15 - Announcement- Launch of the WSITB Store

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Demonology: How a Principality is Established over a Territory

Luke Taylor — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Ever since the Garden of Eden, we have been in a battle for dominion.

The devil seeks dominion over your eternity, but that’s not all. He wants dominion over your personal life, and he wants dominion over physical space on planet earth.

I don’t think most Christians realize that the devil is out to conquer territory. We often talk about the spiritual battle that we’re all in, and that can cause us to think that the physical world doesn’t matter so much.

But if you read your Bible, you’ll see that obviously, this world matters to him. And it matters to God. And so we need to make it matter to us as well.

I mean, as we read scripture, Satan shows up in Ezekiel 28 as the principality of Tyre. He shows up in Isaiah 14 as the principality of Babylon. Daniel 10 tells us about the principalities over Persia and Greece.

And Ephesians 6 tells us that we wrestle against these principalities. But what even is a principality, and how does it come to be in charge of a territory on planet earth?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Ephesians 6, and let’s get weird.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

1:40 - Recapping Last Week

8:00 - Establishing a Principality

21:40 - Getting Rid of a Principality

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Demonology: The Hierarchy of Satan’s Kingdom (Ephesians 6:12)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Most Christians don’t realize this: not every thought you have is your own thought. Some of them are the thoughts of the Pneumatikos. What are the Pneumatikos? They’re those things Paul warned us about in Ephesians 6:12.

Once of the most famous New Testament verses. You’ve heard it. I’ve heard it. We’ve all heard it.

Ephesians 6:12 says (in the ESV)

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

We’ve read that. We’ve heard sermons on it. We’ve understood it- or, we think we do. We understand that this is talking about spiritual warfare. Satan’s army.

But what exactly are the rulers? What specifically are the authorities? Or cosmic powers? Or spiritual forces of evil?

These names might sound like the bad guys in an episode of Power Rangers. But what do all these phrases mean?

These terms refer to the hierarchy of power, or the ranks in the devil’s kingdom. Just like our military might have generals, captains, lieutenants, and infantry, the devil also has an organized militia. They take orders. There’s a chain of command. And if you listen all the way through today, you’ll understand this verse deeper than ever before, and you’ll have a much clearer understanding of how Satan’s kingdom operates.

There are demonic minions who operate at a very low level. There are principalities who operate at a very high level. And there is a prince of darkness at the very very top. (And it was not Ozzy Osbourne.)

I did find Ozzy Osbourne to be weird. But even more-so, I find Satan’s kingdom to be weird, and I’d like to know everything about it that we can find in the Bible.

And if you want to learn that, too, turn to Ephesians 6, and let’s get weird.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:20 - Get Me to the Greek

5:15 - Arche or Principality

8:20 - Exousia or Power-Authority

13:50 - Kosmokrator or Cosmic Powers

15:50 - Pneumatikos or Spiritual Forces

17:30 - How Satan’s Kingdom Functions

26:00 - How to Repent

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Exploring the Heavenly Realms of Ephesians

Luke Taylor — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0500

We’re going to be in the book of Ephesians for the next couple of weeks, really centering around this famous verse at the end of the book:

Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Next week, we’ll be looking at what these rulers, authorities and spiritual forces exactly are. All you need to know is that these refer to the hierarchy of Satan’s kingdom. Rulers and authorities, powers and spiritual forces, these are demons and fallen angels.

For this week, I want to just explore this concept of “the heavenly realms.”

We read that and we’re like, “well I know what that is: the spiritual realm. The supernatural realm. The unseen world. Behind the veil. The upside down. The Quantum Realm. Narnia.”Whatever you want to call it. It’s that spiritual plane of existence that angels and demons inhabit.

But wait: what if I told you that “the heavenly realms” is a phrase that’s been used throughout the book of Ephesians- and not only that, it says we’re already there.

Ephesians 2:6 says

God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus

So how can we be there if we’re here?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Ephesians 1, and let’s get weird.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

1:55 - Epouranios

5:45 - Ephesians 2:6

10:30 - Ephesians 1:3

12:00 - Ephesians 1:20

15:25 - Ephesians 3:10

23:00 - Next Time

25:40 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Angels vs Humans: Who Ranks Higher in God’s Kingdom?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Who outranks who: angels or humans?

I mean, angels get to go to heaven and can turn invisible and beat up demons- and FLY- so it sounds like they’re better than people. Like angels are superior to humans.

And yet, Hebrews paints a different picture.

Chapter 1, verse 14 says

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Those who inherit salvation are us. So angels are ministering spirits who serve us. Wow. So maybe humans outrank angels. But it’s going to say in the very next chapter,

verses 6 and 7

What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?

You made him for a little while lower than the angels…

Wait, so humans are lower than the angels? And that also speaks of Jesus- when Jesus was on earth, was He lower than the angels as well?

Make it make sense!

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Hebrews 2, and let’s get weird.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

1:55 - Lower Than the Angels

7:20 - What is Man?

15:30 - Psalm 8 and the Elohim

24:45 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Satan’s Agenda in Eden- and Why He Attacks Us Today

Luke Taylor — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Why did Satan tempt Adam and Eve into sin in the Garden of Eden?

You’ve probably wondered that before. You’ve probably wondered why Satan felt it was so important to bring sin into this world and to corrupt mankind.

And you’ve probably heard answers like this: because Satan hates God, and humans are made in the image of God, so therefore Satan hates man.

And that answer’s fine, I guess, but it doesn’t really check all the boxes for me. Such as: what does Satan get out of it? What is his endgame? What does he get by attacking us?

I have an answer to those questions that will bring a greater context for this spiritual battle we’re in between God and the devil- and why this planet is the battleground.

The Bible tells us why Satan relentlessly attacks God’s greatest creation, which is human beings. And I’m glad it tells us, because I find Satan’s actions to be weird, and I’d like to explore why he does what he does in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 1, and let’s get weird.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - Understanding Dominion

6:20 - How Satan Stole Our Dominion

11:55 - Satan God What He Wanted

15:00 - 3 Areas Where the Devil Seeks Control

23:15 - Next Time

25:15 - How the Gospel Gets Our Authority Back

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Why was Eve Talking to a Snake?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Genesis 3:1-2 say

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent,

Well wait, let’s stop right there. Why wasn’t Eve just running the other way at this point Why was Eve talking to a snake? Did animals used to have the ability to speak before the fall of man?

Possibly. But that’s kind of a strong claim to make without more scriptural support for it. I don’t know that animals were that smart.

I did see an article this past week where the headline said scientists have determined that dolphins are the second-most-intelligent beings on this planet. Not snakes, but dolphins. It said dolphins are second only to man.

It did not say where women rank in the lineup. I felt like that should have been part of the story, but the article never went there.

But the smartest creatures we have on earth other than man are dolphins, and even dolphins can’t talk.

But Genesis 3 hits us with a talking snake.

And Eve talks right back to it. She even lets it convince her to commit the first sinful action ever taken by humans.

Now most of you are already ahead of me: duh, Luke, it’s the devil! (Satan, that serpent of old, as Revelation 12:9 says)

And yes, it’s totally the devil. But that makes the question even more challenging for us, because now we have to explain: how was the devil a snake, who did Eve think she was talking to, and why was she listening to him? We’ll answer all those questions today, because I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 3, and let’s get weird.

My column this week in the Christian Post: https://www.christianpost.com/voices/gods-will-or-not-in-modern-times-casting-lots-for-big-decision.html

NOTE: My reference to II Corinthians 10:14 was an error; I meant to cite II Corinthians 11:14.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - The Snake’s Identity

8:20 - Why Did Eve Listen to Him?

12:25 - Could Animals Talk?

15:35 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

“Beasts of the Field” & Other Biblical Vocabulary for Demons

Luke Taylor — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 06:00:00 -0500

We’ve heard a million sermons, bible studies, Sunday school lessons, and more on Genesis 3. And for good reason. This is the chapter that depicts the first sin, the fall of man, the reason we needed Jesus to come and die for our sins.

Genesis 3 is where Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, bring sin into the world, and get kicked out of the paradise of Eden.

So for good reason, there are countless books and teachings and even podcasts that dive into this chapter. And yet, I find that the more you dig, the more you keep finding. There’s more going on in this story than you probably ever realized. For a chapter that seems to explain so much about reality, it also raises a lot of questions.

For example, let’s just talk about the opening line:

Genesis 3:1

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

Well we all know who the serpent is. That’s the devil, or Satan. We’ve got that down. We know that a serpent refers to a physical creature like a snake, but we also understand that this is no mere snake, but also referring to the devil himself. So we know the Bible here is using a physical creature to depict a spiritual being.

But what about the beasts of the field also mentioned there? We usually assume that that’s just talking about the other animals that filled the earth in those early days.

But if the serpent at the beginning of the verse is referring to a spiritual being, why would we not also assume that the beasts of the field that the verse mentions later are not also spiritual beings?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Let’s dig into this idea today, and as we do, it’s going to show us how sometimes the Bible sounds like it’s speaking in physical terms but is actually just using those words to communicate about what’s going on behind the spiritual veil. So today will expand your vocabulary of spiritual terminology and bring some clarity to your Bible reading.

Let’s start by turning to Genesis 3, and let’s get weird.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

3:30 - The Craftiest Creature God Ever Made

7:20 - Beasts of the Field

15:30 - Birds of the Air

18:35 - Snakes and Scorpions

25:40 - Closing Thought: Why I Talked About Nephilim

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Goliath’s Brothers & Other Giants of the Bible

Luke Taylor — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Let’s begin with where we left off last week. We started with Goliath and traced his origins and ancestral line backwards, all the way back to Genesis 6. In those verses in Genesis 6, we read about how spiritual beings called the Sons of God came down to earth and mated with human women.

As I said last time, this is probably the weirdest thing I believe. And if you like hearing about Weird Stuff in the Bible, you’re in the right place.

Genesis 6:1-4 say

When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

So last week, we talked about how the giants- or Nephilim- were created. And how this eventually led to a most famous giant: Goliath, who fought David in I Samuel 17.

But wait, you might say: wait a minute Luke. Genesis 6:1-4 happened BEFORE the flood of Noah. So how did the Nephilim continue to populate the world in Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua and I and II Samuel, which all take place after the flood.

That’s what I will talk about today, and along the way, we’ll also meet all the other giants of the Old Testament. It wasn’t just Goliath. He wasn’t just a one-and-done. There are multiple others; in fact, entire tribes of giants.

I find that to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Numbers 13, and let’s get weird.

(NOTE: where I said “Genesis 6” at 18:35, I meant Ephesians 6)

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - How Did the Nephilim Return After the Flood?

7:30 - Anak

12:00 - Og

19:00 - Mailbag

23:00 - Goliath’s Brothers (or Cousins)

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

How Was Goliath So Tall?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 06:00:00 -0500

I am on a bit of a David-and-Goliath kick right now, for three reasons.

One, because I just got back from vacation where I saw an incredible production of David’s life at Sight and Sound theater.
Two, there’s an amazing new show on Amazon called House of David that I just finished watching.
And three, because the story of David and Goliath is a picture of the spiritual battle we all find ourselves in every day.

Now, even if you aren’t a Christian, you know the story of David and Goliath. The small Israelite boy who used a sling to destroy the giant champion of the Philistines.

But when we say Goliath was a giant, what do we mean? Well, I Samuel 17 says he was six cubits and a span. I have enough trouble converting English to Metric, and my yardsticks growing up did NOT have an edge that measured cubits and spans.

Scholars will tell us that six cubits and a span amounts to anywhere from 9-foot-9 to 10-foot-6.

And yet those same scholars will tell us in the next breath that this must be some kind of mistake, because obviously, nobody can be 10 feet tall. Even Christian scholars will teach that this must be some kind of typo in the Bible.

Well, call me old-fashioned, or call me a fundamentalist, but I believe that the whole Bible is God’s Word, and that God doesn’t make mistakes.

So I take this to be literal truth. But I also take it to be weird.

And I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to I Samuel 17, and let’s get weird.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - The Origin of Goliath

8:10 - The Origin of the Anakim

11:40 - The Origin of the Nephilim

14:25 - Life Update & Mailbag

22:20 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

WHY we do Spiritual Warfare

Luke Taylor — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 06:00:00 -0500

We often talk about HOW to do spiritual warfare.

But we don’t often talk about WHY we do it. WHY do we have to have these struggles with spiritual beings?

WHY does God have us fighting on this spiritual battlefield against enemies we can’t even see?

WHY does God allow us to be afflicted and tormented by demons or unclean spirits that we are so defenseless against in the physical?

Well this week, I’m on vacation with my family, but I wanted to share this message I recently preached at the church where I’ve been serving as Interim Pastor the past few months.

The message was called Binding, Loosing and Why We Fight. I’ve spoken about prayers of binding and loosing on this podcast before so I didn’t bother including that portion of the message, I’m just sharing today that last section of it: Why We Fight.

And in true preacher fashion, I said it would take 5 or 10 minutes, it took more like 15 or 20.

But I do believe it will be helpful and instructive to all of you listening as well. Thanks for tuning in today. If you need to get in touch with me, I’ll check my email when I get back from vacation: WeirdStuffInTheBible.com.

We’ll be back with another traditional episode next week. But for today, here’s some thoughts on WHY we engage in spiritual warfare.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Ephesians: A Spiritual Warfare Field Guide

Luke Taylor — Wed, 28 May 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Ephesians is famous for a line in chapter 6 about who we wrestle with in spiritual warfare. We’ve even quoted it several times on this podcast.

Verse 12 says

And man, there’s a lot to unpack in that single verse alone. It talks about the various hierarchies of fallen angels and demons and all those spiritual entities who fight against us for dominion of planet earth.

But wait- this kinda just comes out of nowhere. I mean, Ephesians starts by talking about the purpose of the church. Then it gives some good moral guidelines and application. Then it starts talking about wives submitting to their husbands and husbands submitting to Christ and children obeying their parents and employees obeying their bosses- and then out of the blue, it starts talking about spiritual beings and the armor of God-

And where did that come from? What ties all this together?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to the book of Ephesians, and let’s get weird.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Ephesians Explained

4:00 - Chapter 1

6:10 - Chapter 2

8:10 - Chapter 3

10:40 - Chapter 4

16:00 - Chapters 5-6

22:15 - Chapter 6 & the Armor of God

24:25 - Next Time & Mailbag

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Why did God kill Uzzah? Did God overreact?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 21 May 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Does God ever overreact?

I think a lot of us would say no, that God always responds to each action in an appropriate and measured way.

But what about poor Uzzah here? Uzzah is a guy who is transporting the Ark of the Covenant, it’s being carried by an ox on a cart, and the Ark almost slides off the trailer. Uzzah puts out a hand to stop it from falling, and he gets fried for touching the Ark.

II Samuel 6 even calls it an “irreverent” act in the NIV translation.

It says in verses 6-7 (NIV)

6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.

As we’ll read in a moment, David considers this a major overreaction on God’s part.

I know the Ark is important, but why did Uzzah have to die just for trying to stop the Ark from sliding off into the dirt? Did God overreact here?

As we dive into this today, we’ll discover the answer to another question: is it possible to try to honor God but actually insult Him?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to I Chronicles 13, and let’s get weird.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - But it’s a NEW cart

6:30 - An Overreaction?

8:50 - The Weight of Glory

12:00 - Next Time & Mailbag

13:40 - Closing Thought

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Topics discussed in this episode include: Uzzah, Ark of the Covenant, 1 Chronicles 13, Why did God kill Uzzah, God's holiness, Bible judgment stories, touching the ark, fear of the Lord, David and the Ark, Old Testament justice, Weird Bible stories, Weird Stuff in the Bible, Luke Taylor podcast, strange Bible events, sacred things in Scripture

Was it Right for Jephthah to Sacrifice His Daughter?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 14 May 2025 05:00:00 -0500

One of our listeners, Alana, always sends in fantastic questions. Recently she sent an email with this, and I can’t believe I haven’t already covered this on the podcast before.

She asked about the passage in Judges where Jephthah vowed to sacrifice the first thing that came through his door to meet him after victory in battle. And if you know the story, you know that it actually ends up being his daughter. Alana said, “Clearly that was a sacrifice to God. Why would God allow him to sacrifice his daughter?”

This is a passage that incites a lot of debate, discussion and even depression among many bible readers. Jephthah is a believer. He’s even listed in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11.

And yet he also commits this abominable act- something God has often stated is unacceptably wicked- of committing a human sacrifice with his own child.

Yes, he made a vow in Judges 11 to sacrifice the first thing that came through his door.

Yes, it was a foolish vow since he didn’t realize his own daughter might be the thing.

But was it right for him to keep this vow?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Judges 11, and let’s get weird.

Check out the new website! www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Who is Jephthah?

4:30 - Jephthah’s Vow of Human Sacrifice

9:00 - Was Jephthah right?

12:05 - The Importance of Our Vows

16:15 - A Sacrifice for Breaking Vows in Leviticus 5

19:40 - The Importance of Knowing God

23:40 - Did She Actually Die?

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Check it out: WeirdStuffInTheBible.com

Luke Taylor — Wed, 07 May 2025 06:00:00 -0500

We have a website, guys! We have a website.

Now I won’t say that I’ve really “made it” in this world until I have a whole subreddit dedicated to my destruction. But in the meantime, we can at least say: we have a website.

www.weirdstuffinthebible.com

Now maybe you say: why does the podcast need a website? How does a website help a podcast?

And that’s what I want to tell you all about today. Because I believe this website has potential to reach a lot more people than even the podcast does.

So I want to tell you all about it. What the website’s function is, how I will use it to make this podcast even more informative and let you dive deeper into the Bible’s weirdities than we do for 20 minutes each week in audio form.

Don’t worry, the podcast is not going anywhere. I’m not really doing a typical episode this week, just letting you all know about the website this time because I spent the weekend launching the site, I didn’t really have time to get a whole new study done. But we’ll be back next week with more than ever, I’m just gonna tell you all about the website today.

So let’s get weirdstuffinthebible.com

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Tour the Site

9:50 - Why I Made the Website

14:30 - Where We’re Going Next

16:00 - How You Can Help the Site

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Binding and Loosing Revisited: Spiritual Warfare or Church Discipline?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

I was challenged about a past episode over whether I’d properly done my homework in my research of binding and loosing.

This was in regard to episode 52, simply called Prayers of Binding and Loosing.

In that episode from last fall, my conclusion was that Matthew 16:19 was about spiritual warfare, and I covered this in the midst of a series of episodes on spiritual warfare. I spoke about binding demons, loosing people and setting them free, things like that.

Someone listened to that episode and challenged me on my interpretation, saying I hadn’t given a fair hearing to another way that those verses are often taken, which is about church discipline.

In fact, Jesus speaks of prayers of binding and loosing in only two places: there in Matthew 16, and Matthew 18, where it says:

In verse 18

18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

And undoubtedly, that verse is in a church discipline context.

I did not cover that in last fall’s episode, and I have to admit, it was a pretty big oversight. Maybe not as big as saying that Jesus wasn’t really crucified with literal nails, so at least I didn’t have the biggest blunder of this week, but if I’m perfectly honest, Matthew 18 deserves to be covered in the binding and loosing conversation.

So did I get it wrong? Is binding and loosing actually about church discipline? And if it’s not, why is it talked about right here in a church discipline passage?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

And if you listen all the way to the end today, I have a huge announcement about something I’ve been working on behind the scenes for the past few months.

Turn to Matthew 18, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - My View in Review

4:30 - The Church Discipline View

10:20 - A Case Study in Corinth

15:00 - Holy Ground in the Church

21:00 - A Major Announcement of What’s Coming

23:45 - Repentance is the Goal

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

(Fan-Favorite Rebroadcast) The Zombies who Rose when Jesus Died (Matthew 27:52)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Night of the Living Dead. World War Z. Resident Evil. The Walking Dead. And… Matthew chapter 27.

What do all of these have in common? They all contain zombies.

Now, if you don’t believe me that the Bible has some zombies in it, then explain this verse to me. Matthew 27 is about the crucifixion. Now, don’t worry, I’m not about to claim that Jesus was a zombie when He rose from the dead.

Jesus had a resurrection body. He was a special situation.

But something else happened when Jesus died on the cross; something you’ve probably read several times before but just never looked at too deeply:

Matthew 27:52-53

52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

What was that again? When Jesus died on the cross, several other random people walked out of their graves and…and then they’re never heard from again?

We’ll read this in-context in just a moment, but the context doesn’t help a whole lot. This is very random, raises some big questions, and is interested in answering none of them. It just moves right along in the passage and never mentions these zombies again.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Matthew 27, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:40 - Setting the Scene

5:00 - The Details

10:15 - Asking the Experts

21:45 - The Gospel through Zombies

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Mailbag: Why Was Jesus Rejected by His Own People? Also: Don’t be a Normal Christian.

Luke Taylor — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Back in January, I received this interesting question from a listener:

“So how is Jesus Jewish but Jewish people do not believe he is the messiah?? This is something I’ve been trying to wrap my head around… Nyssa from Houston Texas”

That’s a good question. Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. He had all of these prophecies about Himself throughout the OT, which He then fulfilled. He worked all kinds of miracles. He even died and rose again, and some of them still didn’t get it. So, that’s kind of weird, right?

Well I think it’s weird. And I’d like to explore why it worked out that way in the Bible.

Turn with me to John 6 and let’s get weird.

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Why Jesus Was Rejected? (Nyssa)

11:35 - Was Balaam’s Oracle Messianic? (Greg)

15:00 - Why Was Elihu not Pardoned? (Beau)

16:55 - The Dominion of Man (Walter)

20:40 - Be a Weird Christian

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Did Balaam try to Create Portals to Hell?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 06:00:00 -0500

When Balaam was asked to curse Israel, God gave a pretty clear NOPE

If you don’t remember the story, King Balak of the Moabites comes to Balaam and says, “I want you to climb up on this mountain above the camp of the Israelites and curse them for me so that they aren’t a threat to my people.” And he offers Balaam a lot of money to do this.

And Balaam prays about it repeatedly and begs God for permission to do this. And like I said, God shot it down. At least at first.

When He actually allowed Balaam to go up on that mountain, it was with the stipulation that he could only say what God allowed him to say.

Now, what was the big deal with Balaam going up on this mountain? If some guy wants to climb up on a big hill and yell his head off saying mean things about you, what’s the harm in that? I mean, we might kind of scoff at him and say, “what an idiot,” but we probably aren’t that worried about it. Cory Booker got up and yelled his head off for 25 hours straight. Didn’t have any effect on my life and probably not anybody else’s either. As the old saying goes, sticks and stones could break my bones, but words can never hurt me. So why should we care about Balaam doing the same thing?

Well obviously, Balak thinks it would be pretty significant; he’s willing to shell out a lot of money only to have Balaam curse the Israelites.

And God clearly didn’t treat Balaam’s attempted curse on the people of Israel as empty words or hokey superstition.

Was there something deeper going on behind Balaam’s actions?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Numbers 23, and let’s get weird.

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Failed Curses

10:30 - A Successful Curse

19:00 - The Doctrine of Balaam

22:25 - Next Time & Mailbag

24:45 - Corrupting the Tabernacle

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Why did Jesus say ‘YOU ARE GODS’ in John 10?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0500

In case you haven’t noticed as you’re reading your Bible, Jesus could be a bit of a trouble-maker. He was constantly riling up the Pharisees and ultra-religious Jews, He was making the Roman authorities uncomfortable, He was known to flip tables and push buttons and run off His own followers. And He’s been known to step on my toes a few times as well.

Jesus also had this tendency to outsmart the smart people. And smart people really don’t like that. That’s what they tell me, anyway.

And on one of those many occasions where the Jews literally wanted to stone Jesus, He had just said that He was equal with God. They accused Him of blasphemy for this, and He gave a very interesting reply to their accusation- one that the Jews of Jesus’ day would have comprehended, but something I think most of us Christians misunderstand.

John 10:33-34

33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?

Now that’s a strange thing to say. It sounds like Jesus is saying, “what’s the big deal with calling myself a god? Doesn’t scripture say all of us are gods?”

And then that begs another question: when did Scripture say that all of us are gods?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to John 10, and let’s get weird.

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:05 - The John 10 Context

10:40 - The Psalm 82 Context

12:45 - Putting it All Together

16:50 - Next Time

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

How God uses the Divine Council to Rule the World

Luke Taylor — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0500

You’ve been in those boring staff meetings before, right? The excruciatingly long staff meetings. Staff meetings that make you want to go read some Leviticus, just to live a little. Yes, we’re all familiar with a staff meeting.

Did you know that Heaven has staff meetings? In fact, Heaven’s staff meetings are where the affairs of earth are dictated. They involve various spiritual beings who are assigned authority over various territories. And they all get together and hash out their plans.

And unlike your workplace’s staff meetings, I’m sure the ones in heaven aren’t boring at all.

Now, perhaps you’re hearing all this and you’re thinking: I think if God had staff meetings, He would have told us something about it in the Bible.

And if that’s you, you’re in the right place. Because guess what: this is all through the Bible. So if you listen through to the end, I’m going to demonstrate three outlandish things, and you’re probably going to be skeptical that I can really do this, but give me a chance here. In the next 20 minutes, I’m going to prove:

That God has staff meetings to determine the affairs of man
That both good and evil spiritual beings are invited to attend and contribute at these meetings
That this is mentioned in various places of scripture

Pretty wild, right? But if you’re willing to listen until the end, I’ll back it all up with Bible.

And we’ll start with I Kings 22. Turn there in your bible, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

3:25 - Ahab and Micaiah - the Earthly Drama

11:55 - God and His Council - the Heavenly Drama

19:00 - Next Time, Newsletter and Closing Thoughts on God’s Sovereignty

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Does the Bible say there are multiple gods?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Christianity is a monotheistic religion. In fact, if you go to Wikipedia’s page on Christianity, the very first line says, “Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion.” If you google it, Google will tell you that “Christianity is the largest monotheistic religion in the world.”

So obviously, if we know anything about Christianity, we have to know it’s monotheistic.

Mono is a prefix that means “one.” Theistic refers to deity. Christianity has one deity: God.

This differentiates us from the polytheists such as the Hindus or Greeks and Romans or Norse mythology or any of the pagan religions out there. They believe in multiple gods; we only believe in one.

Christianity is monotheistic, this I know; for Wikipedia tells me so.

But what does the Bible say?

Well, you’ll hear verses that speak of the God of the Universe as the One True God.

Isaiah 45:5

I am the Lord, and there is no other;
There is no God besides Me.

Sounds simple, right? But then you read verses like

Psalm 82:1

God stands in the congregation of the mighty;
He judges among the gods.

Who are these gods it speaks of here?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Psalm 82, and let’s get weird.

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/

You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - Psalm 82

6:30 - Introducing the Divine Council

11:00 - Multiple gods in Scripture

15:15 - Next Time, Newsletter and Closing Thoughts on the Trinity

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Skubala My Bible Says: Scatological Language in the Scriptures

Luke Taylor — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Are you ever reading through your bible and then you come across a word that your mama used to tell you not to say?

That might happen especially if you’re reading the King James Version. It has quite a few verses that can have you doing a double-take. But every version of the Bible has some shockingly crude or maybe even vulgar statements that don’t sound like they should be coming out of the Holy Scriptures.

So I hate to put a content restriction on today’s episode and I’m not going to say any curse words, but you might not want little ears to hear some of the things we’re going to study in Isaiah or Ezekiel today. But let me just say: I’m assuming Ezekiel’s grandma wasn’t in the audience when he used some of his sexual metaphors.

And Paul himself in the New Testament said a few things that may have gotten the bar of soap put in his mouth. If you don’t believe me, there’s a sweet little verse in Philippians 3 where Paul is talking about how nothing we we do can measure up to the work of Christ when it comes to our salvation.

In Philippians 3:8, he says

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

OK. That’s a nice pleasant verse to hammer home the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice…in the English.

But in the Greek, the word “rubbish” right there is a little stronger. It’s the Greek word “Skubala,” which doesn’t mean rubbish, but actually means poop. And not just any poop. One of the strongest words in the Greek language for poop.

We have some strong words for poop in our language, too. Words I won’t say here on this podcast- especially because my grandma might be listening.

But Philippians did say it. Am I listening to Howard Stern here, or am I reading the Apostle Paul?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Ezekiel 6, and let’s get weird.

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You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

2:15 - Ezekiel’s Dirty Jokes

11:00 - Our Righteous is as WHAT?!

17:00 - Shock Jock Paul

23:40 - Next Time & Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Casting Lots to Determine God’s Will

Luke Taylor — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0600

Some decisions are just too big to be left to chance. There are some decisions in life that are so huge, you wouldn’t dare flip a coin on them.

What career you want to have.
Who to marry.
Which house to buy.
Whether to challenge your 6-year-old to a Fortnite rematch after how he destroyed you the last time.

These are weighty matters to consider. And yet, you would actually see people in the Bible casting lots to make some of these types of big decisions. Decisions of going into battle, figuring out who was guilty of a crime- and even matters of life and death.

Do I think it’s weird that Bible characters would use games of chance to make important decisions? Not necessarily. People make bad decisions all the time.

It’s not necessarily weird to see people making important decisions in ways left up to random chance.

The weird think about it to me…is that it worked.

God often worked through people casting lots- literally playing games of chance- to reveal His will to them and to guide them to the correct choice.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Because if God revealed His will like that to them, would God reveal His will like that to me?

Turn to Ezekiel 21, and let’s get weird.

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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You can also find a list of past newsletters at that same link so you never have to miss one.

0:00 - Introduction

1:50 - Ezekiel 21, Guiding Nebuchadnezzar

7:25 - Is Anything Random?

15:45 - By the Spirit

18:50 - Next Time & Mailbag

20:40 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Daniel’s Wacky Dreams

Luke Taylor — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 05:00:00 -0600

How they Prove the Past and Foretell Our Future.

Probably my favorite movie of all time is Inception, the 2010 Leonard DiCaprio film with the dreams within dreams within dreams.

The plot of that movie is a tangled web if there ever was one. You have to take it nice and slow, understand things one piece at a time, and once you understand all the smaller parts, you can put it all together and finally understand what’s going on.

You might need to watch it a few times to get it all, but trust me, it all fits together. And even if you don’t always understand what you’re looking at, the Hans Zimmer music is usually enough to keep you interested.

Dreams can be kind of loopy sometimes. And heavily symbolic. And you don’t always understand what’s going on when you’re in them. That was certainly the case for the Prophet Daniel in his book.

Daniel has a few truly wacky dreams and visions throughout his story. They involve ferocious beasts, a goat having a showdown with a ram, and a statue made of many types of metals.

These dreams are so hard to understand, they cause many Christians to just kind of read past them and move on to the next chapter as quickly as they can.

But these dreams are not just the effects of eating that leftover Chinese food. Daniel’s dreams were from God. They actually had real-world predictive power. The details Daniel saw in his dreams were specific to things to come.

And some of these things he dreamed about have already happened; there are others that actually haven’t happened yet.

So we’re going to dig into Daniel’s dreams in chapters 2, 7 and 8 of his book, and I’ll explain what they mean today. And just like trying to understand Inception, we’re going to do that by taking things nice and slow; understanding one piece at a time, and then putting all those pieces together. Maybe with a little help from Leonardo DiCaprio.

So if you’ve ever found Daniel’s Dreams to kinda weird, and would like to know why they’re in the Bible, then turn with me to Daniel 7, and let’s get weird.

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0:00 - Introduction

3:15 - Daniel 7 and the Four Beasts

11:25 - Daniel 8 and the Ram and Goat

14:50 - Daniel 2 and the Statue

21:15 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Closing the Gates of Hell: The Authority Jesus Gave Us- and How to Use It

Luke Taylor — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 05:00:00 -0600

In Matthew 16, Jesus told us that those who believe in Him become part of the church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against us.

But what exactly are the gates of hell?

Over the past few weeks, we have been discussing the idea of spiritual gateways in the Bible. The modern word for these gates or gateways would be “portals,” but that’s not a term that was used back when King Jimmy wrote his translation, so the biblical vocabulary for these would be gates.

I’ve been digging into this concept of the gate of heaven in the Old Testament. We traced out its whole story of what it was: a portal between heaven and earth- where it came from, the role it served in the Old Testament, and how it was eventually taken down by defiling its altar.

So when Jesus spoke of the gates of hell, could he have been referring to these entry points between our realm and the spiritual realm?

And if the gates of hell are these entryways, then what has Jesus given us- the church- the task of doing about them?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Matthew 16, and let’s get weird.

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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0:00 - Introduction

2:30 - Real Witchcraft

8:00 - Keys to the Kingdom

15:00 - Our Authority

22:30 - Newsletter

24:10 - The Altar of the Cross

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Altars, Idols and Spiritual Gates: Unlocking Heaven and Hell

Luke Taylor — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 05:00:00 -0600

There was an incredible comment left on my last episode: “God is the biggest sci-fi nerd ever”

And I loved it because yeah, I know lately I’ve been talking about portals and gateways and UFOs and someone might wonder if I’ve been watching too much Star Wars instead of reading my Bible. But these concepts didn’t start with science fiction; we’re seeing that they go all the way back to ancient times, written in Scripture itself, and will have a profound impact on how we understand spiritual warfare today.

And yeah, I’ve probably been watching too much Star Wars as well, but that’s always true. A lot of these revelations I’ve been finding are actually new to me, including what I’ll be talking about in this episode.

So in the last two weeks, we established a few facts we can observe from the text of the Bible:

1- for spiritual beings to pass between our realm and the spiritual realm, they can’t just pop in anywhere they want to. There has to be a way made through; a gate.

2- there are gates of heaven and gates of hell, and these are for the angels/good spiritual beings and the demons/bad spiritual beings

3- the gates are tied to physical locations on planet earth

4- the gates can be tainted or closed, as we observed in the story of Bethel

5- once the gates open, they stay open. It’s not like Dr Strange where he opens a portal, jumps through it, and then closes it right behind him. Once the gate opens, it stays open.

But how does it open?

Well as I was reading about these locations where gateways had been established on the earth in Genesis 12 and 28 and 35 and I Kings 13 and several other places, there was a particular word that I would see come up again and again and again throughout these stories: “altar.”

I found this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 12, and let’s get weird.

Sign up for the weekly newsletter! Get additional insights and Bible study tips for unpacking strange things in scripture. Enter your email here:

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0:00 - Introduction

2:35 - Altars Defined

6:20 - Bethel Revisited

13:50 - Altars Throughout Scripture

19:00 - Good Altars

21:50 - Next Time and Newsletter

24:00 - The Occult, Witchcraft and Idolatry

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Bethel: The Corrupted Portal to Heaven

Luke Taylor — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 06:00:00 -0600

This episode is going to pick up on some threads we left hanging last week in regard to portals into the spiritual realm.

To briefly recap, I submitted the idea last week that spiritual beings, such as angels and demons, cannot enter our world or our physical realm wherever and whenever they want to. I believe there are particular locations on planet earth- which we might call “portals” in modern times, but the biblical term for these are “gates”- which spiritual beings use to access our reality.

Now, that’s a lot to swallow for some people. That’s why I left it there for last week, but let’s build upon that idea this week. I want to study out one of these gates here in Scripture, the gate that was established in the city of Bethel.

Bethel is “the house of God.” This is the location where Jacob spent the night and had a spiritual experience where he saw a portal here: a stairway to heaven, with angels ascending and descending on it.

When he woke up, he said: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

As we talked about last week, this city was the gate of heaven: an entryway that angels used to enter our realm from the heavenly realm. We’re going to trace this out today and study Bethel’s story, because we’ll see that this was a physical location that was greatly blessed by God.

And yet in the prophets later on in the Bible we start to see them speaking against Bethel.

In fact, in Amos 5:5, he says

Do not seek Bethel… [and] Bethel will be reduced to nothing.

Why would the prophet say something like this? In fact, Hosea also even changes the name of Beth-el, which means ‘the House of God,’ to Beth-aven, which means ‘the House of Wickedness.’ Why would the prophets say this about such a sacred city?

What happened to the Gate of Heaven?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 28, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

3:30 - Genesis 28

6:00 - Genesis 35

12:00 - Judges 20 and I Samuel 7

14:00 - I Kings 12

19:40 - II Kings, Amos and Hosea

24:00 - Closing Thoughts and What’s Coming Next

Link to sign up for the newsletter: https://weirdstuffinthebible.beehiiv.com/subscribe

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Portals into the Spirit Realm, Higher-Dimensional Beings, and the Gate of Heaven

Luke Taylor — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0600

This might be an episode you have to listen to twice.

Something really caught my eye as I was reading through my Bible a few months ago, and digging into it has revealed a few things to me about the spiritual realm and how spiritual beings such as angels and demons can have access to our lives here on earth.

So I was reading about Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28, and how this location where he had his dream had the name changed from Luz to Bethel. If you have read Genesis or studied Jacob’s life, you’re probably familiar with this dream. It’s when he saw a ladder or stairway to heaven with the angels going up and down on it.

And when Jacob wakes up, he makes this statement in

Verse 17

“How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Something I’ve read over dozens of times before, but this time that phrase “the gate of heaven” really stood out to me. Because I wondered precisely what that means that this somewhat random location on earth was declared to be the gate of heaven.

Even more curiously to me, this is the only time in the entire Bible that the phrase “Gate of Heaven” is used.

I found that weird, and so I set out to explore why it’s in the Bible. And today I’ll give you my theories on that.

Turn to Genesis 28, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Genesis 28 and Jacob’s Dream

6:45 - My Previous Theory of Higher-Dimensional Beings

12:45 - Let’s Throw Some Bible Into It

15:40 - Next Time

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Is the Church Built on Peter?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0600

Was Peter the First Pope?

What I’m going to talk about today is perhaps THE MOST misunderstood verse in the entire world today.

And I say that because there are about 1.4 billion Catholics in the world. If we were to consider Catholics a denomination of Christianity, then we Protestant denominations are far outnumbered. We who are Methodists, Pentecostals, Baptists, Southern Baptists, Free Will Baptists, Independent Fundamental Baptists, whatever those guys in Skillet are- all of us. If you added up all of the Protestant denominations together, you’d be under a billion, so we are far outnumbered by the Catholics.

And we Protestants agree with Catholics on a lot of things: the deity of Christ, the Trinity, Creation of the World from nothing, the authority of the Bible, the supremacy of Chick-Fil-A, lots of doctrines that we build our faith on.

But the reason I say that we’re tackling the most misunderstood verse in the whole Bible today is because Protestants have a very different take on this verse than Catholics do. And it’s this verse that suggests that the worldwide church was started with and built on Peter.

All because…Jesus said so. Or that’s what it sounds like, at least.

In Matthew 16, Jesus said,

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

And Peter there, by the way, is Petros in the Greek, which means “stone.”

Wait a minute- do Protestants have this right? Is the church built on Peter? Was Peter truly the first pope?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Matthew 16, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - The Context

8:00 - Petros and Petra

14:15 - Next Time

16:40 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Difference in the SOUL and the SPIRIT

Luke Taylor — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0600

We all know we have a soul. That our bodies may die, but we all have an eternal soul that will live on forever and ever.

All human beings have a soul. This is something that sets us apart from plants, animals and people who skip the theme song when they’re watching The Office.

And then the Bible also speaks sometimes of each of us having a spirit, and we think of that similarly to the soul. It’s that ghostly, non-physical part of us that only exists in the spiritual realm. We use the terms “soul” and “spirit” pretty interchangeably, as if they’re synonyms.

But then when you’re reading

I Thessalonians 5:23, Paul says

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wait a minute: spirit and soul and body? You mean I’m not just a body and soul; I’m a body, soul and spirit? I always thought the spirit and the soul were the same thing, so why is I Thessalonians 5:23 talking about them as two different things?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Romans 8, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - Definition of the Spirit

10:10 - The Spirit’s Work Inside of Us

15:20 - The Spirit is a Point of Connection Between You and God

18:00 - Next Time and Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Did God Actually HATE Esau?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0600

One of the most puzzling verses in the whole Bible is

Malachi 1:3, where God says

“Jacob I have loved;But Esau I have hated”

If that doesn’t make you do a double-take while you’re reading your Bible, I’m not sure what will.

Again, that’s God speaking. It’s written by Malachi, but it’s a quote from God. The same God who will be telling us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us just a handful of pages later. The same God who says feed and clothe your enemies. The same God who gave us the story of the Good Samaritan, right here, is declaring His hatred for Esau.

Who had his problems, but really wasn’t such a terrible guy in my opinion. Especially not compared to his sniveling trickster brother, Jacob.

Now, some Christians swallow Malachi 1:3 without a second thought. They say, “If God hates Esau, then God hates him. Esau must have deserved it.” And while I appreciate their willingness to accept whatever the Bible says at face value, I gotta admit, I’ve struggled with this one.

I mean, I’ve done episodes on Scripture’s talking donkeys and demon-human hybrids, and I don’t even blush at those passages. But Esau I have hated- THAT’S the one where I have some hang-ups.

I find it to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Malachi 1, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

3:00 - Let’s Make it Worse

7:40 - Should you “hate” your mother and father?

13:25 - The Chosen

19:00 - Mailbag

22:50 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Many Faces of the Cherubim (and what the Devil looks like)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 01 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0600

Imagine sitting on a hill, wondering about your life, when suddenly the heavens open, and you see creatures so otherworldly they defy description. Four faces on each of their heads, gleaming metal, fire, and a throne surrounded by lightning. That’s where Ezekiel’s story begins—and where we’re headed today.

The prophet Ezekiel sees something that very very few people in the Bible ever saw: a vision of God on His throne. In the very first chapter of the book, God appears before Ezekiel, attended to by these spiritual beings known as the cherubim. There are four of them, and each of the creatures has four faces. It says in

Ezekiel 1:10

As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle.

So Ezekiel gets off to a pretty strange start. Like I said, that’s just the first chapter. And right off the bat, Ezekiel sees something that even almost no other prophet gets to see. And not only that, he gets to see it again. Ezekiel has another experience of God and the cherubim in

Ezekiel 10:14

And every one had four faces: the first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was a human face, and the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.

So, there’s a slight difference there between the description of the cherubim in chapter 1 vs the description in chapter 10. In chapter 1, one of the faces was described as an ox. In chapter 10, it was called the face of a cherub.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to know why it changes from one chapter to the next. And along the way of exploring this question, we’ll actually discover the answer to another one: What does Satan look like?

It’s probably not a question you’ve ever dwelt on too long. You probably think I’m pretty weird for even asking it. But this is not a podcast for people who like talking about normal stuff in the Bible. This is a podcast for people who like to learn about weird stuff in the Bible.

So if that’s what you’re here for, turn to Ezekiel 1, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

3:40 - Ezekiel 1 vs Ezekiel 10

14:00 - The Face of Satan

21:20 - Next Time & Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Fan-Favorite (Rebroadcast): The Day Satan Called with Bill Scott

Luke Taylor — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:00:00 -0600

This is a re-airing of a popular interview I did earlier this year with a man who has an amazing story of deliverance. He shares some of the story here, and gives some helpful advice for if you would come up in a similar situation in your own life.

Find Bill's book right here: https://www.amazon.com/Day-Satan-Called-Encounter-Possession/dp/0892968982/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
The Day Satan Called: A True Encounter with Demon Possession and Exorcism. Available in paperback and on Kindle.

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Satan’s Master Plan (and what it has to do with Christmas)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 06:00:00 -0600

Most Christians are regularly outwitted by Satan, and most Christians have no idea about his schemes- his devices- his designs.

We like to blame Satan for a lot of problems in life. The degradation of society, the strife in our families, the flat tire I got last Tuesday, whatever happened to Marvel after Endgame…

And I think it’s a fair question to ask: what the heck is this guy’s problem? What’s his deal? How does he expect to possibly defeat God? What’s his master plan?

I find Satan to be weird, and I’d like to understand what he’s doing throughout the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 3, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:50 - Genesis 3-4

6:50 - Genesis 5-6

11:00 - Genesis 12

15:00 - II Samuel 7

21:30 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Is Zeus Real? The Names of Satan Throughout Scripture

Luke Taylor — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 06:00:00 -0600

I received a thought-provoking message from one of our listeners this week: Alana writes in:

I find it interesting in Acts 14 when the crowd claim that Paul and Barnabas are Zeus and Hermes that Paul and Barnabas do not deny that Zeus and Hermes exist. That Paul and Barnabas simply point out that they are only mortal men.

Now, there’s a couple ways you could read Paul’s deflection in this story, which we’ll study through in a moment. This took place in Lystra, where there was a temple of Zeus worship, and it ends with sacrifices being offered to him.

One way to read Paul’s comment is that he’s just ignoring Zeus as an irrelevant idol. Another way to read it is that Zeus is real. That despite the idols and temple of Zeus being meaningless structures, perhaps there is a spiritual entity behind them.

In fact, I Corinthians 10 even tells us that sacrifices to idols are offered to demons.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Acts 14, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:20 - The Context in Acts 14

8:00 - The Identity of Zeus

18:15 - Next Time and Mailbag

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Demons in Dry and Desolate Places

Luke Taylor — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 06:00:00 -0600

Where do demons like to hang out?

You know, other than the DMV, the Grammy Awards, or in that sauce they put in Chipotle wraps.

Where would you go- or perhaps a better way to say it, where should you avoid- if you want to stay away from demons?

Well if you asked the writers of the Bible, they had an idea about where demons liked to congregate. I mean, certainly you can find a demon just about anywhere. But what locations of the earth were considered the domain of demons?

Jesus made a strange (almost off-handed) comment in

Matthew 12:43, where He said:

When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.

So what did Jesus mean about demons- AKA unclean spirits- who go through dry, waterless places when they are cast out of a human?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Matthew 12, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:45 - The Context

4:45 - Unholy Ground

10:00 - Kingdom Authority

18:20 - Next Time and Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Why did Naaman ask for DIRT?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 06:00:00 -0600

Naaman the Syrian had it going on. A great job, a great reputation, all the money he needed- oh, and he had leprosy.

In those days, this was a death sentence.

In those days, a great job, a powerful position, favor with kings, all the money in the world, none of it meant anything if you had leprosy- because if you had leprosy, you were gonna die.

Desperate for an answer, Naaman travels to the land of Israel to meet with a certain miracle-worker named the prophet Elisha. But then, in one of the most amazing stories in the Bible, Naaman is totally cleansed and allowed to return home to Syria. He’s getting a second chance at life. And all he asks for after that are a couple of jars to take home some dirt with him.

Wait, what? Dirt?

I mean, we’ve all been souvenir shopping when we went somewhere special, or when we wanted to take a memory home with us. But why did Naaman request to take some dirt home with him?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to II Kings 5, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - I’ve Got a Jar of Dirt

10:22 - Holy Dirt

15:45 - Mailbag and Next Time

17:10 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Prayers of Binding and Loosing: Keys of Kingdom Authority

Luke Taylor — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 06:00:00 -0600

Today’s lesson is too important to wait.

And I almost didn’t do it. Because these verses that we’re studying today are going to come up again in the book of Enoch, and I’m planning on starting a book of Enoch series here on the podcast early next year. And so you might hear some of this information repeated again in a few months, and I almost didn’t create today’s lesson so that I wouldn’t be repetitive.

But it’s just way too important not to tell you this today, because it has the potential to revolutionize your prayer life. And it gives us some very practical application to this series of episodes we’ve been doing about spiritual warfare and demons for the past few months.

I mean, why spend all this time learning about the capabilities of spiritual beings like demons if we don’t also learn about the capabilities we have as Christians to stop them?

So in Matthew 16, Jesus informs His followers about the spiritual authority that we have.

He says In verse 19

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

But this terminology has not shown up in the Bible before, so what in the world does it mean?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Matthew 16, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Intro

2:20 - The Declaration of Who Jesus Is

6:50 - Wrong Theories About Binding and Loosing

9:45 - The Right Theory on Binding and Loosing

14:35 - How to Land on the Right Theory

16:45 - Change How You Pray

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Paradise or Purgatory? Abraham’s Bosom Explained

Luke Taylor — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 06:00:00 -0600

There is a parable which I believe is not technically a parable- I believe it’s a true story- called The Rich Man and Lazarus. Jesus tells this story in Luke 16. And there’s a lot of strange things you could point out about this story, but what always sticks out to me is where Lazarus goes when he dies in this story.

Luke 16:22

So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.

And as you read the story, you find that a rich man died and went to a fiery place of torment called hades, but the beggar named Lazarus went to a better place called Abraham’s Bosom.

Now, we’ve all heard of going to heaven and hell when we die. And I don’t believe in purgatory. But what is Abraham’s Bosom?

And I’ll do you one better, where is Abraham’s Bosom?

And I’ll do you one better, why is Abraham’s Bosom in the Bible?

We’ll answer all these questions today, because I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Isaiah 14, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Intro

1:10 - Sheol

7:00 - Abraham’s Bosom

11:00 - Luke 16, The Rich Man and Lazarus

18:00 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Can Demons Disrupt Your Prayers?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 06:00:00 -0600

The devil really really doesn’t want you to listen to today’s episode. Because this is going to blow the door wide open on one of Satan’s schemes that he uses to try and make us ineffective as Christians. But, I’ll also tell you how to overcome it.

Last year, one of my pastor friends who was preaching through the book of Daniel and came across the strange story in chapter 10. And he commented that he didn’t know how he was going to teach it.

And I was like, “what you do mean, how you’re going to teach it? You just teach it. You read what it says and make sure everyone understand it.”

But I understand what he meant. Daniel 10 is weird. It deals with something we don’t hear about a lot in the spiritual realm.

But just because we don’t hear about it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen every day. It’s a weird thing to us, but a totally normal thing in the spirit.

In Daniel 10, it says that demons and fallen angels actually have a way to stop our prayers. That God can even hear our prayers, send an answer, and that Satan can stop it before the answer comes to us. Believe it or not, that’s something that devils can interfere with.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Daniel 10, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Intro

1:30 - Daniel 10, Wrestling with Angels

6:00 - The Prince of Persia

8:25 - Demons Can Disrupt Our Prayers

11:00 - Mailbag

13:25 - Keep Praying and Don’t Give Up

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

A Ghost Story in the Bible: Saul and the Witch of En Dor

Luke Taylor — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0500

It was a dark and moonless night when King Saul, cloaked in fear and despair, wandered the desolate wilderness of Mount Gilboa. His once-mighty heart had grown heavy, for the Lord had turned silent—no dreams, no prophets, no answers. His enemies, the Philistines, loomed at his doorstep, and without divine guidance, Saul felt utterly forsaken.

Desperation drove the king to a forbidden path, one he had condemned in years past. He had ordered all the mediums and spiritists to be cast out of Israel, for the Lord forbade such practices. But now, Saul himself sought a medium—a woman who dwelled in the shadowed village of En Dor — known to whisper with the dead.

Did you know the Bible has a ghost story? Saul visits a woman known as a medium or a necromancer. A practice forbidden in Old Testament law, and still to this day. In fact, in the Old Testament, doing this resulted in the death penalty.

You might say, “now ghosts aren’t real. Once you die, you go to heaven or hell. You can’t drop back in and grab a cup of coffee with the living.”

And yet, as you’ll hear in a few minutes, Saul’s plan seems to work, and the ghost of a long-dead prophet is brought up from the grave.

Or is it all a demonic trick?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to I Samuel 28, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - The Ghost of En Dor

5:45 - Real or Fake?

9:30 - Was it Actually Saul? Or a Demon?

18:30 - Vote

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Territorial Spirits (and the Deuteronomy 32 Worldview)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0500

I’ve been doing this podcast for about a year now and I can’t believe I haven’t done an episode about this yet.

Today, we’re going to be talking about territorial spirits. And that phrase refers to the fact that spirits are assigned to certain sectors of the earth.

Many Bible-readers aren’t aware of this little tidbit about how the spiritual realm works, and you may question whether this is in the Bible.

In fact, it’s ALL THROUGH the Bible. We just encountered one place last week when we were studying the demoniac of Mark 5. This was the guy who had a “Legion” of demons within him, and Jesus ends up casting the demons into the pigs.

What’s really strange, though, is a request from the demons not to be sent out of that territory. This was a spiritually dark place known as the Gadarenes- or some translations may say the Gerasenes.

Mark 5:10 said

And he [and this is the demon-possessed man] begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

In other words, the demoniac begged Jesus earnestly not to send the demons out of the country.

Why were the demons so intent on staying within this location?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 11, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:45 - The Deuteronomy 32 Worldview

10:00 - The Rest of the Bible

13:00 - Next Time and Mailbag

14:44 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Why did Jesus Cast the Demons into the Pigs?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0500

We’re going to continue our foray into demonology today, and we’ll wrap up this story of Jesus and the demoniac of Mark 5.

If you’re not familiar with this story, it’s the guy who lived among the tombs and could break chains with his bare hands.

This is the guy who said “I am Legion, for we are many.” There were potentially thousands of demons within this man.

And this is the story that ends with Jesus sending those demons out of the man and into a herd of pigs. Who then promptly run off a cliff into a lake a drown themselves.

But it’s super strange to me that He grants their request. Jesus doesn’t work for a radio station. Why is He taking requests? And of all people to grant a request, why does He do it with these demons?

And what about the poor pig farmer who lost his whole livelihood that day? And did anyone call PETA to lodge a complaint about this Jewish exorcist who was wrecking the GDP of the Gadarenes?

There’s a lot of questions that come up in this story, and I’ll answer as many of them as I can today on this episode.

Turn to Mark 5, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:45 - The Context

5:35 - Where did the pigs come from?

9:20 - Entering the Pigs

17:30 - Next Time and Mailbag

20:20 - Creating a Witness

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Day Satan Called: A look back with Bill Scott on the Dos and Don’ts of Demonic Deliverance

Luke Taylor — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0500

It was the week before Halloween in the fall of 1988 when Bill Scott picked up the phone at his job at a Christian radio station and his life was never the same.

What follows is a story of demonic possession, deliverance, and a long list of what to do and what NOT to do when standing up to the powers of darkness.

I’ve been doing a series on the abilities of demons here on this podcast. Bill joins me today to share his story with my listeners here. It’s going to add some insight and depth to your understanding of spiritual warfare. But let me warn you: parts of his interview will rock your world, get a little scary, and a lot weird.

So if you’re ready, let’s get weird.

If you want to get in touch with me (Luke Taylor), my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

You Should Be Ready to Face Demons (Mark 5)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 06:00:00 -0500

Welcome back to Demonology class.

I didn’t have this class in the school of ministry that I attended for three years.

I’ve never heard of a Bible college offering a class in exorcism.

I’ve never heard of a seminary giving a degree in demonology.

And yet, when Jesus gave His disciples a job to do, He said to preach the Kingdom, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons. Now, I don’t know about you, but most of those things are not a part of my weekly walk with God.

I learned about preaching the Kingdom. That other stuff just kinda comes up once in a while. And even though we read about demons being cast out on almost every page of the four Gospels, most Christians have never studied how it works.

And if you do talk about it too much, you get branded a weirdo.

But is it weird for a Christian to do the stuff the Bible talks about? Or is it more weird if we don’t?

Turn to Mark 5, and let’s get normal.

0:00 - Introduction

1:20 - Schizophrenic Behavior

4:25 - Demons Know Jesus

6:40 - Demons Have a Day of Judgment

12:35 - Finding Out a Demon’s Name

19:00 - A Demon of Cigarettes?

27:00 - Next

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Demonology: What Can Demons Do?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 06:00:00 -0500

I remember being a younger Christian and sharing a meal with a couple of older pastors, who got to talking about a Bible story of demon possession. It may have been the one we’re in today, actually.

And one of them just mentioned, quite offhandedly, that of course, demon-possessed people in the Bible were actually just dealing with sickness and mental issues. And the other quickly agreed.

And I was like, a teenager at the time, and these were two longtime pastors, older men- I think they were Lutherans- so I didn’t say anything. I figured I must have misunderstood them, I didn’t want to look like an idiot, so I kept my mouth shut.

But I had been raised Pentecostal. And I had no idea back then that some Christians didn’t really believe in the existence of demons. That they had alternative interpretations of all these passages where demons manifest, possess people, speak to Jesus or the apostles, inflict physical problems and sickness on people- and I had no idea that some Christians denied what the Bible clearly taught about evil spiritual beings.

So I’m not going to let you remain ignorant today. The Bible says that demons are real, and they’re capable of doing things in the physical world, and the things they can do…are weird.

And I’d like to explore what the Bible has to say about them.

Turn to Mark 5, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:40 - The Study of Demons

6:25 - The Powers of Demons (Super-Strength)

12:15 - Surrounded by Death

20:45 - Next Time

24:00 - Mailbag

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Angel Armies Surround Us

Luke Taylor — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 06:00:00 -0500

I said it on the first episode of this podcast: if you’re a modern Christian living in a westernized country, you’re weird. You’re living in a very weird time and weird place in human history.

Because we are taught to accept rational, scientific explanations for things. We’re told that if you can’t find it in a test tube or with a telescope or see it with your own two eyes, then it probably doesn’t exist.

Most people, and perhaps even most western Christians, have absolutely no concept of a spiritual battle taking place around them at all times. No awareness of angels and demons.

Most Christians might be aware that yeah, there are spiritual forces that exist; but they never really think about them outside of church. Once Monday morning hits, most Christians often give no more thought to the spiritual realm than your average atheist.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore what the Bible has to say about spiritual reality.

Turn to II Kings 6, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - Behind-the-Scenes Code

4:00 - Elisha and Gehazi

8:15 - Your Eyes Can Deceive You

13:00 - Gehazi’s Eyes Opened

20:30 - Next Time

22:45 - All Around Elisha

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Does God Really Expect Us to Honor Evil, Wicked Leaders?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 06:00:00 -0500

The Bible has some hard commandments in it. “Do everything without worrying or complaining.” “Forgive 70x7 times.” “Be content in all circumstances.” “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wifi.” “Thou shalt not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

I’m sure I’m not the only person out there who struggles with these.

OK, maybe that last one was kind of a joke. That actually is in the Bible, and it’s a weird thing in the Bible, but that’s not the weird thing I want to focus on today. Maybe we’ll circle back to it in a future episode.

No, the thing I want to focus on today, and perhaps a harder instruction than all those others, is a command found in

I Timothy 2:1-2

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

Wait a minute, what? We’re supposed to pray for our leaders? That wouldn’t include presidents I don’t like, would it?

Well, it says “for kings and all who are in high positions.”

So perhaps presidents, then. But not the bad presidents, right? Not the evil and wicked rulers who sometimes get into power over us? God surely couldn’t be telling us to pray for THEM, right?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to II Kings 6, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Ben-Hadad and Elisha

5:55 - Who Was Jehoram?

7:55 - Supplications and Prayers for Leaders

12:15 - Intercessions

16:25 - Thanksgiving

20:20 - Mailbag

22:45 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Miracle of the Floating Ax Head (II Kings 6)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 06:00:00 -0500

The raising of Lazarus. The 10 Plagues in Egypt. Walking on Water. Feeding the 5,000.

There are lots of miracle in the stories that are pretty well-known, even by non-Christians. Most of them are done by Jesus, but Moses and Elijah have their fair share as well.

But there’s a miracle in II Kings 6 that’s just a bit harder to categorize. It’s not nearly as dramatic as other miracles; it doesn’t solve a problem that seems nearly as dire as something like parting the Red Sea to save all the Israelites. And it can leave us scratching our heads wondering what it’s even doing in the Bible.

II kings 6:5-7 has this story of some men chopping down trees by a river

5 But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.” 6 Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. 7 And he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

So a man is distressed that he broke an ax, so Elisha throws a stick in the water, which makes the iron ax head float back up to the surface. A miracle, sure…but kind of mundane compared to the rest.

In fact, another element of this story I’d like to study today is that Elisha is only given a limited amount of miracles to do, and this is how he chooses to use one of them.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to II Kings 6, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - A Double Anointing

5:25 - A Wasted Anointing?

7:25 - The Context

12:20 - So What Does it Mean?

14:45 - Next Time

16:45 - The God of Everything

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Who is the ‘God of this World’ in II Corinthians 4:4?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0500

Most of us would agree that God and Satan are about as different as you can get. That they are such polar opposites that it would be virtually impossible to confuse one with the other. That it would be tantamount to heresy to try to compare the two.

And yet, there’s a mystery to the identity of the figure called the “God of this World” in II Corinthians chapter 4.

Verse 4 of that chapter says

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

So, the conventional wisdom or assumption that most Christians make is that the “god of this world” must be Satan. The reason being, this figure is said right here to be blinding the minds of unbelievers to prevent them from hearing the Gospel. Sounds like a not-good thing to do, right?

However- that raises the question: if unbelievers have had their minds blinded by Satan, then how is it their fault that the don’t obey the Gospel? How can God hold it against them that they don’t believe if it’s not their fault?

And is it really true that Satan would have the power to blind people to God’s truth?

But then if it’s not Satan, if it’s actually God, then that raises another question: why would God blind people to the truth about Himself?

It’s not clear-cut any way you look at it. And it’s strange that this one mysterious figure could potentially either be God or Satan.

That kind of mistake isn’t like mixing up the ranch dressing with the caesar dressing. This is like mixing up the ranch dressing with boiling hot lava that melts your face off. It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out…yet it kinda is.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to II Corinthians 4, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:30 - The Context

5:15 - Is it Satan?

10:40 - is it God?

16:45 - Hardenings and Delusions

20:20 - The Abandonment Wrath of God

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Who Hardened Pharaoh’s Heart?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0500

Last week I was discussing a weird story about Moses in Exodus 4, I came across another pretty odd verse that generates some confusion among Christians: Exodus 4:21.

Now, I didn’t want to stop and analyze that verse because it would have taken me on a rabbit trail, and I was already trying to talk about a different weird thing, and I would have had to go down a weird-ception of weird-within-a-weird. So I decided to come back to it this week.

And what does Exodus 4:21 say? Well, it’s as Moses is on his way back to Egypt, and God says

(Exodus 4:21)

“When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

So that’s strange because it raises the question of whether Pharaoh even had a choice about how everything was going to play out. Because if you know the story, Pharaoh doesn’t want to let the people go, and he pays a pretty steep price for it.

And yet Pharaoh never relents. All throughout the story, his heart is harder than your grandma’s fruit cake at Christmas.

But this claim that God would harden Pharaoh’s heart makes it seem like Pharaoh wasn’t even really able to let the people go if he wanted to. So what gives? Did Pharaoh have free will?

And perhaps more importantly to us: do you and I have free will?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Exodus 4, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:40 - What is a Hard Heart?

5:20 - God vs Pharaoh

8:40 - Is Anyone at Fault?

12:40 - Next Time

14:25 - Would God Harden our Hearts?

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Why did God want to KILL Moses? (Exodus 4:24-26)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0500

So, a funny thing happened on the way to Egypt after Moses spoke to the burning bush.

Something you have probably never heard about.

Even if you have read it before, this is such a bizarre paragraph of Scripture that you probably just read right on through without stopping to dwell on it.

When most of us tell the story of Moses, we start with his origins in the Nile River, how he was born an Israelite slave and how he came to be raised in Pharaoh’s palace, how he killed a man and ran away into the wilderness, how he got married to Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro. How one day he talked to a Burning Bush who said He was God and told Moses to go back to Egypt and “Let My People Go.” And as we tell the story, he went back to Egypt and started doing the 10 Plagues and you know the rest.

Or do you? Because there was another really odd moment that happened in the midst of that that nobody ever talks about. It’s right after Moses has just been talking to the burning bush, and he’s returning to Egypt.

Exodus 4:24

24 At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death.

Woah, what? The Lord wanted to kill Moses? Moses hasn’t even done anything yet. Like, God sent him back to Egypt, Moses seems to be doing what God said, Moses has been in ministry for like 5 minutes, and yet already he has blown it so bad that God wants Moses killed.

And then what happens next seems like a complete non-sequitur.

Verses 25

25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!”

This is perhaps one of the strangest turns of events throughout the entire Bible.

And after this little event, there’s not really any explanation given. Moses goes to meet Aaron and they go to meet Pharaoh and the story takes off from there. And this little interlude on the way back to Egypt from Jethro’s place often gets forgotten about in the grand and epic story of Moses.

This didn’t come up in the Charlton Heston 10 Commandments movie.

This wasn’t a scene in The Prince of Egypt.

This didn’t even end up in the Veggie Tales version of the story.

(And I’m sure Junior Asparagus was extremely grateful about that).

So why did God want to literally kill Moses 5 minutes into his ministry before he even got into Egypt? And why did his wife follow that up with circumcising her son and calling Moses a bridegroom of blood?

I find this to be awkward…and kinda gross…and weird…and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Exodus 4, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

3:00 - Reviewing the Context

8:15 - A Tale of Three Sons

16:55 - Families Need Spiritual Leadership

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Lion Prophet and the Lyin’ Prophet (I Kings 13)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 06:00:00 -0500

When I first got into ministry, I didn’t know what to do with I Kings 13. I knew God must be trying to communicate something from this story, but I couldn’t figure out what. So many things didn’t line up with my preconceptions.

You have a couple of prophets in this story. Now, in almost every Old Testament story with a prophet of God, they are the good guy. What they do is usually the heroic or brave thing. They’re usually the one setting the example for us.

In this story, the prophets are not too brilliant. They’re great at hearing God. Not so great at the follow-through. And this story can leave us scratching our heads, wondering what the lesson was in all this.

But as I said, it confused me when I first got into ministry and serious Bible study, because I wasn’t sure what to do with it. After a while, I think I figured out what God is saying here and what He’s saying to us today.

So I couldn’t have been happier to get this email from Alana at my church. It said: I’d love to learn more about 1 Kings 13. It’s such an odd story.

Totally agree. I find this story to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to I Kings 13, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - Roscoe the Young Prophet

8:00 - Cletus the Old Prophet

17:15 - The Young Prophet’s Fate

20:30 - Next Time

22:00 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Theory that the Apostle John is Still Alive

Luke Taylor — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0500

I few weeks ago I received one of the strangest questions I had ever had sent to me: could the Apostle John still be alive?

Now, I probably would have shrugged it off except within an hour, I had a second person ask me the same question.

Now, I have never heard this question posed before. I had never had this thought cross my mind before. And yet to be asked this question completely out of the blue twice in the same hour made me think: perhaps God just wants me to look into this a little bit.

But could it be true? Is the Apostle John as immortal as Chuck Norris or Rickroll Memes or reruns of Friends?

Well, I’ll tell you upfront: I don’t think it’s likely that the Apostle John is still alive. But I want to give it a fair hearing today on this podcast and take a look at why there’s a theory going around right now that he is.

And even if this isn’t one of the burning questions on your heart, I think if you bear with me for today’s lesson, you’ll learn a few things and make sense of a few verses with me that never made a whole lot of sense before.

For example, the verse that says: there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.

That was something that Jesus said about his disciples. Now, obviously, those men were alive a couple thousand years ago, and we have still not entered the millennial Kingdom of Christ. So what did Jesus mean by saying that?

I find it to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to John 21, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

3:30 - What Happened to John?

7:00 - Questions

8:00 - Answers

23:00 - Closing Thoughts

Special thanks to the Two Witnesses Live podcast for inviting me on their show recently! Here is a link if you’d like to see/hear it: https://www.youtube.com/live/Mh0bTZhUKwk?si=vqVdx6KZx9tQIZSo

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Naked Man in the Garden when Jesus was Arrested (Mark 14)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0500

So, something really strange happened when Jesus was being arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Mark 14:51 and 52 say

51 And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, 52 but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.

Now if you’re a normal, well-adjusted person, you probably read a strange verse like that, you say: “well that’s weird”- and then you just move along with your Bible reading.

But the listeners of this podcast are not normal, well-adjusted people.

So let’s figure out today what’s up with the naked man who shows up in the garden when Jesus was arrested.

Because I find it to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Mark 14, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:00 - The Context

4:40 - Theory 1- Simply a Historical Detail

13:30 - Theory 2- Mark Himself

15:30 - Theory 3- A Miracle

22:45 - Theory 4- All of Them Together at Once I Suppose

23:35 - Mailbag

26:00 - The Naked Truth

Special thanks to the Two Witnesses Live podcast for inviting me on their show recently! Here is a link if you’d like to see/hear it: https://www.youtube.com/live/Mh0bTZhUKwk?si=vqVdx6KZx9tQIZSo

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Why John 5:4 Got Taken Out of Your Bible

Luke Taylor — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0500

John 5 has one of the most bizarre verses in the Bible. I’m talking about verse 4 of that chapter. This verse is so bizarre, it doesn’t even appear in a lot of versions of the Bible. Go open up your Bible and check right now; it might just say verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, verse 5.

It’s like your Bible forgot to count. But actually, some versions just take verse 4 right out and pretend it isn’t there.

What is so bizarre about John 5, verse 4? Well, this is the story about the man who had been lame since birth. He laid every day by the pool of Bethesda. Jesus comes along and heals this man in this story and says, “pick up your mat and walk.”

So it’s a very well-known story, but verse 4 stands out as particularly odd.

I’ll pick it up starting at John 5:3

3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

This strange reference to an angel who created healing waters on a regular basis is not really mentioned ever again after this, it raises some provoking questions, and then it never answers them. And as I said, many versions of the Bible don’t even include this verse because it’s just too out-of-left-field.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible. But also why it’s not in every Bible.

Turn to John 5, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - The Story and Context

8:00 - A Textual Error?

11:15 - An Angel- Just Like the Bible Says

19:10 - Next Time

21:00 - Closing Thoughts

Special thanks to the Two Witnesses Live podcast for inviting me on their show recently! Here is a link if you’d like to see/hear it: https://www.youtube.com/live/Mh0bTZhUKwk?si=vqVdx6KZx9tQIZSo

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Baptism as Spiritual Warfare: Making Sense of I Peter 3:18-22

Luke Taylor — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0500

What happened when you got in the water at your baptism?

Guess what? You didn’t just get wet.

You made a proclamation of faith- not just to any humans who witnessed your baptism- but a proclamation of faith that reverberated throughout the entire spiritual realm.

And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you’re in the right place, because this episode today is going to explain the significance of baptism in the demonic realm.

And along the way, we’ll also explain one of the most puzzling passages in scripture:

I Peter 3:18-22

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,

20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Woah, baptism save us? This passage went off the rails real quick. I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to I Peter 3, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:10 - Dedication

4:45 - The Spirits in Prison

11:50 - Baptism Now Saves You?

19:15 - A Spiritual Loyalty Pledge

22:45 - Next Time

24:00 - What Happened at Your Baptism?

Special thanks to the Two Witnesses Live podcast for inviting me on their show recently! Here is a link if you’d like to see/hear it: https://www.youtube.com/live/Mh0bTZhUKwk?si=vqVdx6KZx9tQIZSo

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Did Jonah Die in that Fish?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 06:00:00 -0500

Jonah chapter 2 is one of the weirdest chapters in the entire Bible.

I mean, think about it: at the end of Jonah 1, he gets swallowed by a giant fish in the Mediterranean Sea. At the beginning of Jonah 3, he’s spat back out on dry land. In between those events, Jonah lifts up this prayer or lament about his situation to heaven, and that’s what chapter 2 consists of. But Jonah 2 has to be the only chapter in the whole Bible that takes place entirely inside of animal.

That’s pretty unique. And kinda weird. And it’s an interesting factoid about that chapter that always sticks out to me every time I read it.

But there may be an unconsidered angle to this story: was Jonah actually dead as he spoke these words and prayed that prayer?

All my life, ever since I was a young kid, I’ve heard the story of Jonah, and it’s always been taught as if Jonah was alive the whole time he laid in that whale’s belly for three days.

And if you watch the Veggie Tales version, you’ll know that was even a host of black choir singers in there as well!

But is it possible we misunderstood what was actually going on? Is it possible that Jonah was actually dead once he got swallowed by that fish, and then was resurrected back to life when he got spat out?

This theory has been around for a while, but it’s been making the rounds here lately on social media.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore whether it’s true in the Bible.

Turn to Jonah 2, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:40 - What Jesus Said in Matthew 12

4:30 - What the Book of Jonah Says

12:30 - But What if Jonah Was Alive?

14:30 - Mailbag

17:50 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Zombie Apocalypse in Matthew 27

Luke Taylor — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0500

Night of the Living Dead. World War Z. Resident Evil. The Walking Dead. And… Matthew chapter 27.

What do all of these have in common? They all contain zombies.

Jesus had a resurrection body. He was a special situation.

But something else happened when Jesus died on the cross; something you’ve probably read several times before but just never looked at too deeply:

Matthew 27:52-53

What was that again? When Jesus died on the cross, several other random people walked out of their graves and…and then they’re never heard from again?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Matthew 27, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:40 - Setting the Scene

5:00 - The Details

10:15 - Asking the Experts

21:45 - The Gospel through Zombies

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

What “Faith without Works is Dead” Actually Means

Luke Taylor — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 06:04:00 -0500

Entire books have been written about the thorny theological issue I want to talk about today.

James chapter 2. At face value, James 2 seems hard to reconcile with the rest of the New Testament.

That’s because the rest of the New Testament pretty clearly teaches this doctrine of salvation by grace through faith not of works. That’s a direct quote, actually.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Romans 4:2-3

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

Galatians 2:16

yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ,

So it’s like, every page of the New Testament makes this clear: salvation is only by grace through faith. There is nothing you can do to earn your salvation. Works play no part in it.

And then James comes along and says this in his second chapter,

Verse 14

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

Wait a second here. Let me read that again. (Re-read it)

Is James going against Paul? I can’t emphasize enough how much this seems to be saying the exact opposite of so many other verses in the Bible.

Is James contradicting Paul? Is James contradicting the Bible? Is James contradicting God Himself?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to James 2, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

3:00 - James 2

6:15 - The Context of James

11:30 - Going Back to the Greek

17:00 - Next Time

20:00 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Does I Corinthians 11 Command Women to Wear Head Coverings?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0500

Let’s tackle one of the questions today that no Sunday School teacher wants to get: are Christian women supposed to wear “head coverings” according to I Corinthians 11?

Because when you read it very simply and plainly, it certainly feels like they should.

I Corinthians 11:5 says

But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head

Yikes! We don’t follow that one these days. Christians have all kinds of reasons to disregard some of the bizarre commandments and customs in the Law of Moses. But this one is a New Testament command. And it tells women that they should have some kind of covering over their heads.

It’s pretty clear. And yet almost no churches today follow this, at least in the Western world.

And if you ask your pastor or your Sunday School teacher why, they probably aren’t too sure. I mean, it’s right there in the Bible in the New Testament, but we don’t do it.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to I Corinthians 11, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - I Corinthians 11

6:00 - What is a Covering?

16:30 - What This Says about Gender and Nature

25:30 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Did Jesus Tell the Truth to the Rich Young Ruler?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 05 Jun 2024 06:00:00 -0500

What if someone came to a pastor and said, “How do I go to heaven?” Should the pastor tell him how to go to heaven? What kind of pastor wouldn’t tell someone who came to him and asked how to go to heaven how to go to heaven? That’s a pastor’s dream: for people to come to him and ask him how to go to heaven. That’s why we go to Bible schools and Bible colleges and spend years interning and preparing to lead churches: so we can tell people how to go to heaven.

And yet when a man came and asked Jesus how to go to heaven, Jesus didn’t tell him how to go to heaven. In fact, Jesus told him to do something else that wouldn’t even actually get him into heaven.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Luke 18, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

3:00 - The Rich Young Ruler Encounter (Luke 18)

9:00 - Mailbag

14:00 - What Was Jesus Doing?

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Jesus is Weird

Luke Taylor — Wed, 29 May 2024 06:00:00 -0500

So I’ve done 25 episodes now about Weird Stuff in the Bible, but I haven’t talked about Jesus too much yet.

And I really need to, for two reasons. One, because everything in the Bible centers around Jesus.

And two, because Jesus is weird.

Now, I don’t mean that to be disrespectful. I just mean that He was odd.

If you don’t think Jesus is weird, I don’t think you know Jesus very well. He’s completely bizarre. His actions and emotions seem random. He seems to get set off by things that don’t bother other people. He’s extremely loving and gracious one minute and the next he’s kicking over a table. People come to him for help and he doesn’t help them. He gives them something else that they didn’t want. People ask him a question and he hardly ever answers their question- he’ll go off about something else that seems totally unrelated.

And just when He starts making sense- just when it starts to feel like you’re on the same page with Him- He suddenly changes direction and does something totally unexpected.

And I want to look at one of those stories today. Because I find Jesus to be weird. And I’d like know why He does what He does in the Bible.

Turn to Luke 4, and let’s get weird.

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Pentecost Fixed What Babel Broke

Luke Taylor — Wed, 22 May 2024 06:00:00 -0500

The Day of Pentecost had a lot going on; it probably had more going on than you even realized. This is one of the most significant stories in the Bible; it’s the birth of the church, recorded in Acts 2. And it says this in

verses 1-4 of that chapter

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

So we see a lot of unique, strange things happening in these verses. There was wind. It said divided tongues as of fire came to rest on each of them. We’ll try to figure out what that means today.

And then it said that they began speaking in other tongues by the power of the Holy Spirit. Tongues means languages. They suddenly started speaking other languages that they didn’t even know. And this was a sign that the Holy Spirit had come upon them.

So a lot of this are so familiar with this story that we kind of acknowledge it and move on. But wait just a minute. There are many times that the Holy Spirit comes upon someone throughout the Bible and they become capable of amazing and even supernatural things. Samson with his strength. David with his musical gifting. Bezalel as he built the tabernacle. The prophets with their prophesying.

And then you get to the New Testament birth of the church and the sign of the Holy Spirit is tongues; that they start speaking in other languages. Now, isn’t that a little random and weird?

I mean, I find it a little weird. I’m one of those Pentecostals. I’m one of those crazy charismatics. And I think it’s weird.

And I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Acts 2, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:15 - Pentecost and the Gospel

10:40 - Back to Babel

19:00 - Mailbag & Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Origin of Demons: Spirits of the Nephilim?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 15 May 2024 06:00:00 -0500

When I was in the book of Enoch a couple episodes ago, something caught my attention. I was reading something from the book of Enoch’s chapter 15. I didn’t read the entire chapter on that episode, but I did read through it as I was doing my research, and there was a very interesting passage there about the spirits of the Nephilim.

Enoch chapter 15 basically makes the claim that when a Nephilim dies, its spirit roams the earth, afflicts humans, and will do so until the world ends.

In other words, the spirits of the Nephilim are demons.

The Book of Enoch makes a distinction between fallen angels and demons, saying that the fallen angels are these beings who God originally created, but that the demons were essentially created when those fallen angels mated with human women, as told in Genesis 6.

That goes against what I’ve heard all my life in church, which is that demons and fallen angels are the exact same thing. That the 1/3 of the angels who rebelled against God are the demons we frequently read about in the New Testament. The Book of Enoch has a different perspective on these evil spirits.

But this is not a podcast about Weird Stuff in the Book of Enoch. This is a podcast about Weird Stuff in the Bible. I do not use the Book of Enoch to replace my biblical understanding, but I do wonder whether this idea about the origin of demons is congruent with what Scripture actually teaches.

Because as we’ll see, scripture doesn’t outright state that demons and fallen angels are the exact same thing.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore IF it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Isaiah 26, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:10 - Enoch 15

8:30 - Is this Biblical?

20:00 - Mailbag and Thanking Some Weirdos

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Capabilities of Angels: Could they Actually Mate with Human Women?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 08 May 2024 06:00:00 -0500

So on this podcast, we’ve tackled the mysterious subject of Genesis 6 a few times when “the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.”

That’s actually a direct quotation from that chapter. And it’s come up a lot on this podcast because it’s a podcast about weird stuff in the Bible, and this is probably the weirdest thing. If you don’t understand why it’s so weird, it’s because of who the Sons of God are: they are spiritual or angelic beings.

The Sons of God are a collection of spiritual beings that God created and ordered to watch over mankind and report to Him on what mankind is up to. They were to be involved in the management of the earth. But a number of them descended from the heavens and, as the Scripture said, took wives from among women. The testimony of Genesis 6 is that the Sons of God mated with human women and produced children with them.

So this raises a whole lot of questions- mainly: how? How did spiritual beings interact sexually with women- and not only that, impregnate them?

Is this something any angel is capable of?

Could it happen again?

Does it even seem within the realm of possibility that angels have the abilities to manifest physical bodies and sexual organs like this?

So I call it mysterious not because I wonder IF it happened. The Bible is clear: it did happen.

I call it mysterious because I wonder HOW it happened.

Even those who accept what the Bible is saying about the Sons of God and the Nephilim still wonder how it happened.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Psalm 91, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:10 - What Angels Can Do

19:00 - Mailbag

22:45 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Did Jesus Quote from the Book of Enoch?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 01 May 2024 06:00:00 -0500

There is a lot of controversy around this Book of Enoch: Should Christians read it or not? Some get confused about whether it should be considered scripture- and if it isn’t, whether Christians are allowed to read it.

So on the past few episodes, I’ve established that even though it’s not canonical scripture, the authors of the Bible did indeed read it and believe it. Peter did. Jude did. John did.

There’s actually a few places in Scripture where Jesus also might actually quote from Enoch as well. Seriously.

I was actually at a prayer meeting a few weeks ago when someone was talking to me- and totally out of the blue- says “Did you know Jesus quoted from the Book of Enoch? I was like, “no. But I’d find that very interesting.” This woman didn’t even know what I’ve been studying here on this podcast or anything like that. But I listened to her tell me why she thought that.

I found it to be weird, and I’d like to explore whether Jesus actually quotes from the Book of Enoch in the Bible.

Turn to Matthew 22, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - It Started with a Question about Marriage

11:10 - Like the Angels in Heaven

19:10 - Mailbag

21:15 - Did Jesus Refer to Enoch as Scripture?

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Enoch’s Prophecy that Wasn’t in the Bible

Luke Taylor — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0500

In Jude 14-16, he quotes from a prophecy of Enoch:

It says

What’s weird about this prophecy is: it’s not found anywhere in the Old Testament.

Enoch is. It specifically says which Enoch. There’s an Enoch in Genesis 4 and an Enoch in Genesis 5. This is the Genesis 5 Enoch; the one everybody knows about. It specifically says who he is. It quotes a prophecy that he gave. But this prophecy is recorded nowhere in the OT.

So where did this prophecy come from? I mean, it’s a true prophecy. If it wasn’t true, it wouldn’t be quoted here in Scripture. So it’s a real prophecy; but where was it recorded? It was recorded in an ancient document called The Book of Enoch. And the Book of Enoch is not a book in your Bible. And yet, the Bible quotes from it and says it’s true. Jude quotes from a prophecy that is NOT in the Bible.

I find all this to be weird, and I’d like to find out why it’s in the Bible. Or in this case, why it’s NOT in the Bible.

So turn to the book of Jude and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - What is Canon?

8:20 - Pseudepigrapha. Apocrypha.

16:00 - The New Testament Authors Quote Enoch

20:35 - Mailbag & Closing

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Enoch: The First Rapture

Luke Taylor — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0500

I’ll have this debate with people about the rapture of the church, and I will hear this response all the time: the rapture isn’t biblical. I’ll even see it in the comments from today’s episode: the rapture isn’t biblical.

And these days, my response when I hear it is always the same thing. If you want to tell me that the rapture is not biblical, then what happened to Enoch?

Because here’s what Genesis 5 says about Enoch:

Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

On the previous episode, we talked about what this verse means, because it’s a little confusing at first. He was, and then he wasn’t. What exactly does that mean? Well in case there was any confusion, the New Testament makes it clear.

Hebrews 11:5 says

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him.

So Enoch was essentially taken to heaven without dying. There’s actually a theological word for this: a rapture. To be raptured is to be taken to heaven without dying. A lot of the keyboard warriors are cracking their knuckles right now because I just said the no-no word in eschatology. Every time I have done a podcast episode in the past about raptures, I get raked over the coals in feedback because I am told how how we are appointed to suffering, so this idea that God would take us to heaven without experiencing more of it is just thoroughly unbiblical. But my response to that is: then what happened to Enoch?

Enoch was taken to heaven without dying. I call this a rapture.

And there are actually more examples of this in scripture. Enoch was just the first one.

If you find this to be weird, then let’s explore how much this comes up in the Bible. Turn to Genesis 5 and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Enoch

2:00 - Methuselah

7:40 - Elijah

10:40 - New Testament Raptures

19:45 - Closing Thoughts

More about the pre-flood world: https://weirdstuffinthebible.transistor.fm/episodes/unveiling-the-nephilim-giants-dna-and-the-days-of-noah

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Enoch Was and Then He Wasn’t

Luke Taylor — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 06:00:00 -0500

Genesis 5 is one of those chapters people tend to read through pretty quickly. It’s a genealogy chapter. It’s a list of names: so and so the son of so and so, so and so begat so and so.

Not only that, it’s a list of names of people from Adam to Noah. Why do we need a genealogy of people from Adam to Noah? The genealogy is gonna reset at Noah anyway. This seems extra.

And yet, if you stop and smell the roses, you’re going to read about one guy in Genesis 5 who stands out above the rest.

Genesis 5:21-24

21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

Enoch walked with God, and he was not. Was not what? That’s a weird sentence. Enoch walked with God, and he was not…for God took him.

What’s going on in this verse? I find it to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 5, and let’s get weird.

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Is Hell Actually Inside the Earth? (Numbers 16)

Luke Taylor — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0500

We are pressing forward in the book of Jude today. As I’ve said before, Jude is kind of like the Bible’s junk drawer. Everyone has a junk drawer at their house; it’s full of random objects that you just aren’t sure where else to put them, so you throw them all into one drawer and you call it your junk drawer.

That’s how Jude is. It’s like a collection of things that you just aren’t so sure what to do with. Just about every verse of Jude contains a callback to a Bible story. Almost always a weird Bible story. And we just spent three weeks talking about Balaam because he comes up in Jude 11. Let’s read it again:

Jude 11

Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

As a reminder, or if you’re with us for the first time, the book of Jude is a book about apostates. Apostates are those who fall away from Christianity, and right here, Jude introduces the fate of apostates: they rely on their works like Cain, they are materialistic like Balaam, and then they will suffer the same fate of those in Korah’s rebellion.

So what happened to the people in Korah’s Rebellion?

Numbers 16:32-33 say

32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol [aka: hell], and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

Wow, there is a story in the Bible where the ground opened up under some people’s feet and literally dropped them straight into hell itself?

Why would God do this?

And this literally happened. Does this mean hell is literally inside the earth?

I find all this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Numbers 16, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:20 - The Legend of Korah

13:15 - Where is Hell?

22:22 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Was Balaam a True or a False Prophet?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0500

If you don’t know Balaam’s story, you are behind the 8-ball. Most Christians don’t really know who Balaam is, which is a shame, because he is one of the most-referenced characters in the Bible. Balaam’s name comes up 59 times in Scripture.

In comparison, Mary is only mentioned 14 times. And yet, every Christian knows who Mary is. But not many know about Balaam. Balaam is mentioned in the Bible more than Noah, more than Sarah, more than Levi, more than Rachel, more than Isaiah. So if you don’t know who Balaam is, it’s about time you do.

That’s why I’ve done a couple of episodes now on the prophet Balaam. He is a lightning rod for weird stuff, and that makes his story fertile ground for a podcast about weird stuff in the Bible.

Here’s a question I’ve been wondering about: was Balaam a true prophet or a false prophet?

I ask because everything Balaam says comes true, and that’s the test of whether someone’s a true or false prophet, right? Except,

II Peter 2, a chapter all about false prophets, says:

They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

So, everything Balaam says was a true prophecy, yet the New Testament still implies that he was a false prophet. Is this confusing or what?

So I find this to be weird.

I think I have a solution to this problem, and I’ll share it with you today. Turn to Numbers 23 and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:25 - Recap

5:50 - What Happened Up on that Mountain

10:40 - Balaam in the New Testament

12:20 - Motive Matters

16:45 - A Question for the Audience

17:45 - Closing Thoughts from Jude 11

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Wait- there’s a TALKING DONKEY in the Bible?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0500

“I just wanted to look.” That’s probably what Balaam was saying when he went with the princes of Moab. They kept offering him money to go up on this mountain and curse the Israelites.

They wanted him because Balaam was a prophet for hire. Now, he was a real prophet in the sense that he could genuinely hear from God and speak God’s messages. But he was also a very greedy individual in that he would use his prophetic gift for evil purposes.

And then these men of Moab come along and offer him a bunch of money to go up on this mountain and curse the Israelites encamped down in the valley below. So Balaam agrees to go. He says he won’t curse the Israelites for money, yet he really really wants to, so he’s just gonna go up there and look. He just wants to look. That’s what he says outwardly, anyway.

And what happens next? It gets weird. How weird. Well, if you’ve ever heard that there’s a story in the Bible with a talking donkey…this is it.

So turn to Numbers 22, and let’s get weird.

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Why Did God Want to Kill Balaam?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 06:00:00 -0600

God is not schizophrenic. OK? I just wanna put that out there first. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. God does not contradict Himself. And if He looks like He is, the problem is on our end, not His. Amen? OK.

I just feel like I have to establish that because Numbers 22 starts the story of Balaam, and God in this story, Balaam does exactly what God says, and yet God decides to kill him for it.

Numbers 22:20-22

20 And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” 21 So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.

Alright, so far so good, right? God says go. Balaam goes.

22 But God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as his adversary.

And as you keep reading, this angel of the Lord was standing there with a sword to literally kill Balaam.

Wait wait wait. As I said before: God is not schizophrenic. So why is he upset with Balaam here?- upset enough to literally kill him?

I find all of this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible. Turn to Numbers 22, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - God is NOT Schizo

2:15 - Balaam the Greedy Prophet

12:40 - Why God Got Mad

16:00 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Why Did God Reject Cain’s Offering?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 06:00:00 -0600

The opening chapters of Genesis contain the first baseball game: In the big inning, Eve stole first, Adam stole second. Cain struck out Abel. Enoch was walked. The Giants and the Angels were rained out.

Now, as I hear that joke, it makes me realize: there’s a lot of oddities and weird stuff in the opening chapters of the Bible. And we’re going to be honing in on one of those weird stories today.

Genesis 4 tells the story of the first murder: when Cain killed Abel, because Cain was jealous of Abel, because God like Abel’s offerings, but not Cain’s. And it says,

Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.

Now, here’s the million dollar question: WHY. Why did God accept Abel’s offerings but not Cain’s? I mean, both of them are giving something to God. Throughout the Bible, people are willing to give offerings of both animals and fruits and crops. So why is Cain’s offer being shut down in these early chapters of Genesis?

The text doesn’t outright tell us, and I find this to be weird, and I’d like to figure out why this is in the Bible.

So turn to Genesis 4, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - Jude 11 & Genesis 4

7:00 - Why Abel’s Offering Was Accepted

16:15 - Mailbag: “Satan Means Lawyer”

20:00 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Mailbag: Are UFOs Demonic? Answering YOUR questions on aliens, Nephilim and Iceland.

Luke Taylor — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 06:00:00 -0600

So guys, I’ve been terrible about responding to my mailbag! My comments and questions and all that kind stuff that you guys have been sending in! So I’m like: before I go any further in the Bible study, I would like to take a week and just respond to your questions.

So we’re going to talk today about UFOs, demons, Iceland, naked Noah, the end of the world, and snakes with legs. Which, being a snake with legs kinda defeats the whole point of being a snake, right? So we’ll see what that’s all about, and at the end of today’s episode, I’ll share a few thoughts about the success of this podcast in just 14 episodes, which I’m very thankful for.

But what ties all these questions together today is that they deal with things that are WEIRD. So if you don’t want to hear about weird stuff, then I don’t know what you were doing here in the first place! But if you do like hearing about weird stuff, and how that weird stuff might intersect with Biblical truth, then you couldn’t be in a better place. Now let’s get weird!

0:00 - Introduction

1:45 - What’s Up with These UFOs?

8:45 - What was it like in the Days of Lot/Noah?

15:25 - Did Ham Create Rephaim?

18:35 - Did Snakes Have Legs?

22:30 - What’s Iceland Have to Do With Anything?

25:50 - THANK YOU

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Can We Disrespect the Devil?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0600

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Find out what it means to Thee.

Jude 9 is one of the strangest commands in the entire Bible to me. Well, let me start with

Jude 8.

In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings.

So it’s telling us that we need to be really careful in how we talk about spiritual things because there’s a lot going on in the unseen realm that we don’t understand. And we get into trouble when we assume things, because we can assume a lot of things that are wrong.

If you’ve been listening to this podcast, I’ve tried to share things about the spiritual realm that most Christians don’t know about. The divine council. The Sons of God. The scope of God’s sovereignty. The unseen realm is more complicated than simply angels vs demons.

So Jude warns us to be careful in how we talk about spiritual beings. It says we might even inadvertently blaspheme good beings because we call something evil that is actually good.

And that brings us to Jude 9. One of the strangest commands in the entire Bible. It tells us to even temper the way in which we talk about God’s enemy: the devil.

Jude 9 says

But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

So it’s telling us right there: be careful how you talk about spiritual beings. Even be careful that you don’t disrespect the devil.

Now, that’s quite an extreme example to go to when telling that we need to show respect. So extreme that I find it to be weird. And I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

So turn to Jude 9, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:50 - Respect Who?

7:00 - Michael vs Satan

9:45 - Honor All

18:05 - Next Time

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

That Time Satan Fought Michael Over the Body of Moses

Luke Taylor — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0600

Jude 8 says something really weird:

“Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.”

This is one of Jude’s triplets. It’s talking about apostates: people who once said they are Christians, but fell away. And it gives three details about them:

They defile the flesh. They reject authority. And they blaspheme the glorious ones.

We’ll talk about what that means today, but let’s talk about why they do this. What is their basis for doing these three things? They do it by relying on their dreams. What is that referring to?

It’s referring to people who try to change the Word of God by claiming to have a dream, a vision, a divine revelation.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with getting a revelation from God, but if you do, it MUST be in line with what the Bible says. If it’s not in line with the Bible, that’s your first sign that this revelation or dream must be rejected.

But Jude warns us about people who will claim to have a dream or vision and then lead us into apostasy. It said these people pollute their own bodies; go back to our lesson on Jude 7 if you want to know what this means, it’s talking about sexual immorality.

The second thing it said is that they reject authority. The Bible tells us to respect and honor those in charge of us.

And the third thing it said was that they will speak blasphemously against spiritual beings. And to illustrate this point, let’s read

Jude 9

“But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment,”

Wait wait wait. Hold up a second. The archangel Michael. Contending with the devil. Disputing about…the body of Moses- I don’t know about you, but I missed THAT Sunday School class. Where did this idea come from.

The answer is: we don’t have a story about this in the Bible.

So in verse 8, it says to reject these dreamers whose messages are not in line with the Bible. And then to illustrate this in the very next verse, it refers to a story that’s not found in the Bible.

So if you’re paying attention to what I’ve said so far, you should be pretty confused. I know I am. I find all this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible. Or in this case, NOT in the Bible.

So turn to Jude, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

4:30 - The Death of Moses

9:00 - Michael vs Satan

11:40 - The Source of the Story

22:20 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Why Does God Allow Satan to Exist?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0600

Why does God allow Satan to even exist?

That’s a pretty good question. Satan is the first rebel. He helped cause the fall. He has caused untold death, destruction and mayhem for thousands of years. He is God’s greatest enemy. Yet he is no match for God. God once backhanded Satan out of heaven. Someday God is going to kick Satan into the Lake of Fire for all eternity.

So why wait? God could snap His fingers and send the devil there right now. So why doesn’t he? Why does Satan get to keep causing problems, meddling in our lives, tempting people into sin and into hell, every single day that goes by?

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why God puts up with- and makes us put up with- Satan.

Turn to II Samuel 24, and let’s get weird.

This is episode 11 of Weird Stuff in the Bible.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - II Samuel 24 vs I Chronicles 21

4:20 - Coming to Our Census

11:25 - God Used David

14:30 - God Uses Satan

17:45 - God Can use Anyone

Dive into the bizarre and perplexing as Luke Taylor explores the peculiar passages of II Samuel 24 and I Chronicles 21 on the "Weird Stuff in the Bible" podcast. Unravel the enigma of why God allows Satan to exist, delving into the intricate relationship between divine sovereignty, human choice, and the devil's role in biblical narratives. Discover the unexpected twist in this tale of David's sinful census, as God's anger ignites against the Israelites. Explore the strange harmony between God's purpose, Satan's influence, and mankind's choices. Join Luke on a thought-provoking journey through the unusual landscapes of scripture, challenging conventional perspectives and shedding light on the weird and mysterious aspects of the Bible. Don't miss out on this intriguing episode that unravels the complexities of God's use of Satan in fulfilling His greater purposes. Subscribe now and embrace the weirdness in the pages of the Bible.

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Devil is Wise

Luke Taylor — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0600

Happy Birthday, Ezekiel 28. This is episode 10 of Weird Stuff in the Bible.

Explore the mysterious prophecy in Ezekiel 28:1-10 that was given on January 8, 585 BC, and released on the exact 2,608th birthday of this prophecy in 2024 AD.
Dive into Ezekiel 28, one of the most peculiar chapters in the Bible, unraveling the backstory of the devil through the King of Tyre.

0:00 - Introduction

3:15 - Ezekiel 28, verses 1 through 10

11:20 - What is Wisdom?

13:05 - Evil, Wise People

20:30 - Wisdom is Not Enough

Verses 1-10, the Prince of Tyre:

Contextualize the prophecy within Ezekiel's messages to Gentile nations, focusing on Tyre's pride and impending judgment.
Examine the King of Tyre's arrogance, comparing himself to a god, accumulating wealth through wisdom, and the impending consequences.
Highlight the parallels between the King of Tyre and Satan, emphasizing the strange compliment of being "wise" despite evil intentions.

What is Wisdom?

Define wisdom as an understanding of how the world operates based on God's principles.
Emphasize the distinction between wisdom and virtue, showcasing examples of morally compromised yet wise figures like Solomon and the devil.

Evil, Wise People:

Explore Solomon's wisdom juxtaposed with moral failings, illustrating that wisdom alone does not ensure virtue.
Delve into the Bible's portrayal of the devil as "full of wisdom," questioning the apparent contradiction between wisdom and expulsion from heaven.
Highlight the Antichrist's foretold wisdom and success, reinforcing the idea that wisdom does not equate to moral goodness.

Closing Thoughts - Wisdom is not Enough:

Encourage listeners to subscribe for upcoming episodes addressing the devil's tactics and strategies to combat him.
Challenge the perception of the devil's intelligence, stressing the importance of relying on the Holy Spirit to resist him.
Conclude with a reminder that wisdom alone is insufficient in the spiritual battle against the devil, advocating for submission to God as the key to victory.

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The REAL Reason God Destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah

Luke Taylor — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 06:00:00 -0600

Let’s end the debate. This is episode 9 of Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we solve the mystery of Sodom’s destruction. This is not an issue that should be considered ambiguous anymore. It’s time to stop arguing about what the Bible says and start exploring what it means.

0:00 - Introduction

2:35 - Genesis 19, The Historical Narrative

5:10 - Ezekiel 16, The Prophetic Account

7:30 - Jude 7, The New Testament Summary

10:20 - Mailbag

12:55 - Closing Thoughts

Introduction

In this episode of Weird Stuff in the Bible, Luke Taylor delves into the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, exploring the conflicting accounts in Genesis and Ezekiel. With a focus on Jude 7, discover the real reason behind these cities' demise. Warning: mature content discussed.

Genesis 19: Historical Narrative

God sends angels to investigate Sodom, leading to a shocking revelation. While Genesis 19:24-25 details the destruction, the reason remains unclear. Luke questions the prevalent assumption and looks deeper into the Bible's narrative.

Ezekiel 16: Prophetic Account

Ezekiel 16 provides a different perspective, listing Sodom's sins without mentioning homosexuality. Luke explores the implications and challenges the notion that Sodom's destruction was solely due to rampant homosexuality.

Jude 7: New Testament Summary

Jude 7 adds clarity, citing Sodom's sexual immorality and unnatural desires. Luke scrutinizes claims that seek to downplay the significance of homosexuality in Sodom's sins. The episode navigates through key biblical passages to unveil the truth.

Housekeeping/Mailbag

Looking ahead to 2024, Luke teases an exposé on Satan in upcoming episodes. The mailbag segment addresses theories about Nephilim surviving the flood, providing Luke's perspective and distinguishing between Phase 1 and Phase 2 Nephilim.

Closing Thoughts

As the episode concludes, Luke addresses the absence of homosexuality in Ezekiel's account, connecting it to the broader comparison with Jerusalem. Despite the discomfort of the topic, he emphasizes the importance of addressing sexual immorality in the context of apostasy, drawing connections to current societal trends.

Despite the discomfort, Luke encourages listeners to embrace the uniqueness of Christian beliefs. In a world questioning traditional values, he emphasizes the importance of staying true to biblical principles. As the episode wraps up, Luke challenges the perception of being "weird" for adhering to God's Word.

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Nephilim After the Flood

Luke Taylor — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 06:00:00 -0600

The Nephilim are not just in Genesis. This is episode 8 of Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we talk about Nephilim after the flood.

0:00 - Introduction

5:10 - Tracing the Giants

12:30 - Facing the Giants

18:50 - Erasing the Giants

Uncover the ancient mystery as we delve into the bizarre union of divine beings and human women, setting the stage for the peculiar Nephilim saga.

Join me on 'Weird Stuff in the Bible' as he traces the giants post the Great Flood, revealing connections, battles, and the enigmatic story of Goliath from Gath.

Understand the divine command to erase the giants and the implications for preventing Nephilim bloodlines, drawing parallels to challenges believers face today.

Embark on this journey, embrace the peculiar, and find inspiration to face your giants with faith. Subscribe now for more intriguing explorations into biblical mysteries!

Introduction:

Explore the mysterious tale in Genesis 6:4 where the Sons of God intermingle with human women, creating Nephilim or giants.
Tracing the Giants:
- Delve into the aftermath of the Great Flood and the second wave of Nephilim, suggesting Noah's significance in the narrative.
- Uncover the descendants of Anak and their connection to the Anakim, shedding light on Numbers 13:33.
Facing the Giants:
- Follow the Israelites' encounters with giants, including Og, the king of Bashan, and their battles near Mount Hermon.
- Connect biblical references, like Deuteronomy 3:11, revealing the peculiar traits of these giants and the ominous significance of Bashan.
Erasing the Giants:
- Understand the divine command to annihilate the Anakim and its implications for preventing the resurgence of Nephilim bloodlines.
- Discover how giants like Goliath from Gath fit into the Nephilim lineage, emphasizing their extraordinary stature and significance.
Closing Thoughts:
- Explore the faith and courage displayed by David in facing the giants, drawing parallels to challenges believers may encounter today.

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

When the Nephilim Came Back: The Sons of Anak

Luke Taylor — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 06:00:00 -0600

Ever wondered about the mysterious Sons of Anak and their connection to the post-flood reappearance of the Nephilim? This is episode 7 of Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we talk about Nephilim after the flood, as well as expounding on Jude 5 and 6.

0:00 - Introduction

3:40 - The Numbers 13 Giants

11:30 - The Jude 5-6 Lesson

Join us for a journey through Numbers 13, unraveling the mystery of the Sons of Anak and their connection to the Nephilim. In this episode:

Nephilim Resurgence: Explore Genesis 6's revelation of Nephilim returning after the flood. Luke speculates on the methods of the Sons of God and their intriguing reappearance.
Numbers 13 Giants: Dive into Numbers 13, where the descendants of Abraham encounter the Sons of Anak, a lineage of Nephilim. Uncover a demonic plot to hinder God's promises with giant, wicked beings.
Lessons from Deuteronomy 9: Discover God's response to the Israelites' fear of facing the Nephilim. Luke emphasizes confidence and obedience, drawing parallels to challenges in our lives.
Lessons from Jude 5-6: Transition to the Book of Jude, where verses 5 and 6 shed light on apostasy and falling away from God. Explore the powerful reminder that Jesus, the Old Testament God, dealt with those who lacked faith.

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Unveiling the Nephilim: Giants, DNA, and the Days of Noah

Luke Taylor — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 06:00:00 -0600

In episode 6 of Weird Stuff in the Bible, we unravel the mysterious tale of the Nephilim, exploring their origins, characteristics, and the profound impact they had on the days of Noah. From their peculiar creation to their role in the pre-flood world, we delve into the biblical account that goes beyond the ordinary. Get ready for a journey into the weird and fascinating as we uncover the secrets of these giant beings.

0:00 - Recapping the Sons of God

4:55 - Meet the Nephilim

13:45 - Why God Sent the Flood

19:45 - Closing Thoughts

"Ever wondered about the ancient giants who once roamed the earth? In this episode, we dive into a peculiar biblical tale that might just challenge your perception of the past. Ready to explore the world of the Nephilim?"
"Discover how the Nephilim's existence, their supernatural origins, and their impact on human history may hold surprising parallels with challenges we face today. Join us as we uncover the mysteries that tie the past to the present."
Benefits from listening today:
1. "Gain a deep understanding of the Nephilim and their role in biblical history."
2. "Explore the fascinating connection between ancient stories and archaeological finds."
3. "Uncover the significance of the Nephilim in shaping the world before and after the flood."
Ready to unravel the mysteries of the Nephilim? Hit play now and journey with us into the weird and intriguing world of giants, DNA, and the Days of Noah. Don't miss out – your understanding of biblical history is about to get a whole lot weirder!

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Who Are the Sons of God?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 06:00:00 -0600

This is episode 5 of Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we talk about the Sons of God in Genesis 6.

0:00 - Laying the Groundwork

1:40 - Defining Our Terms

7:50 - The Sons of God Were Angels

19:30 - Mailbag

20:40 - Vocabulary is Hard

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Book of Jude is Weird

Luke Taylor — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 06:00:00 -0600

What's coming next? This is episode 4 of Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we introduce a book of the Bible that we’ll be studying together over the next few months.

0:00 - A Book that Makes you Pick a Side

2:30 - Verses 1-2, Who Was Jude?

10:15 - Verses 3-4, The Threat of Apostasy

15:00 - Strange Things about Jude

20:30 - Mailbag and Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

The Divine Council: How God Makes Decisions

Luke Taylor — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 06:00:00 -0600

The Divine Council: How God Makes Decisions

This is episode 3 of Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we pull back the curtain on God’s decision-making process.

0:00 - Staff Meetings in Heaven

1:45 - Introducing the Divine Council (Psalm 82)

9:45 - I Kings 22, Micaiah’s Vision

18:15 - Mailbag

20:00 - Closing Thoughts (Isaiah 37 and I Samuel 16)

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Can the Devil Block My Prayers?

Luke Taylor — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 06:00:00 -0500

Warning: the devil doesn’t want you to listen to this episode. I’m going to tell you one way that he is able to stop your prayers from being answered- but if you listen until the end, I’ll also tell you how to overcome it.

This is episode 2 of Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we pull back the curtain on spiritual warfare.

0:00 - Don’t Be Ignorant

2:15 - Daniel 10, Wrestling with Angels

8:15 - The Prince of Persia

11:45 - Demons can Stop your Prayers

15:45 - Always Pray and Never Give Up

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Weird Stuff in the Bible

Luke Taylor — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 06:00:00 -0500

Weird Stuff in the Bible: Episode 1

AND

The Cross References Podcast with Luke Taylor: Episode 100

The Bible is weird right? Can’t we all agree that the Bible has got some strange things going on?

Judging angels? Talking donkeys? Six-fingered Giants?

Are you ever just reading along and then you come across something that seems totally out of left field? Something that challenges some of your beliefs about the supernatural realm? Have you ever wanted to stop and drill down on what they meant? If so, this is a podcast just for you.

0:00 - Introduction

4:20 - A Weird Time and Place in History

13:45 - The Bible is Weird

If you want to get in touch with me, send an email to weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

TRAILER | Weird Stuff in the Bible

Luke Taylor — Sat, 14 Oct 2023 22:46:46 -0500

Premiering October 30, 2023, and new episodes will arrive every Wednesday.

Upcoming episodes will answer questions like:

Who was the Prince of Persia in Daniel 11?
How does God make decisions with His divine council?
Who are the Nephilim and the Sons of God in Genesis 6?
Who is the Azazel figure in the Day of Atonement?
Why exactly what Goliath so tall?

Never miss an episode; subscribe today!

Get in touch by emailing WeirdStuffInTheBible@gmail.com